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lit  boitor  of  3obti  marsball  Day 
February  4  1901 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

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http://www.archive.org/details/addressbymrjustiOOstorrich 


JOSEPH   STORY 


iff 


JOHN  MARSHALL 


AN  ADDRESS 

BY 

MR.  JUSTICE  STORY 


ON 


Chief  Justice  Marshall 


•    »        '  •    :   1     •         o  "      »      '    •    '     i       '   'j 


Delivered  in  1852  at  request  of  the  Suffolk  (Mass.)  Bar 


Rochester  N  Y 

The  Lawyers  Co-operative  Publishing  Co 

1900 


*   •  «  •    "  • « 


•      t  <■««», 


PREFACE. 


THE  ADDRESS  of  Mr.  Justice  Story  on  the  life,  character,  and  services 
of  Chief  Justice  Marshall,  which  was  delivered  at  request  of  the  Suf- 
folk (Mass.)  bar  on  October  15,  1835,  and  published  at  Boston  in  1852  by 
Little  &  Brown  in  a  large  volume  of  Story's  Miscellaneous  Writings,  is  not 
sufficiently  familiar  to  the  public,  but  deserves  to  be  read  by  every  citizen. 
Story's  intimate  association  with  Chief  Justice  Marshall  for  twenty-four 
years  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  gave  him  ex- 
traordinary opportunities  for  knowing  the  real  life  and  character  of  the 
great  chief  justice,  as  well  as  the  scope  and  quality  of  his  work.  His  mas- 
terly address  on  his  departed  chief  is  not  merely  a  beautiful  tribute  of 
friendship;  it  pays  the  fitting  intellectual  homage  of  an  illustrious  judge  to 
a  superior  whose  greatness  is  supreme.  For  the  purpose  of  bringing  it 
within  the  reach  of  every  person,  and  at  the  suggestion  of  the  committee  of 
the  American  Bar  Association  appointed  to  provide  for  the  celebration,  as 
"John  Marshall  Day,"  on  February  4,  1901,  of  the  one  hundredth  anniver- 
sary of  Chief  Justice  Marshall's  accession  to  the  bench  of  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court,  this  noble  memorial  oration  is  now  republished. 

The  Lawyers'  Co-Opebative  Publishing  Company. 
Rochester,  N.  Y., 
December,  1900. 


M196042 


LIFE,  CHAK.\CTER,  ANB  SERVICES  OF  CHIEF  JUS- 
TICE MARSHALL. 

A  DISCOURSE  PKONOUIsrCED  ON"  THE  15tH  OF  OCTOBER^   1835,  AT 
THE  BEQUEST   OF   THE   SUFFOLK  BAE. 


The  funeral  obsequies  have  been  performed ;  the  long  proces- 
sion has  passed  by,  and  the  earth  has  closed  over  the  mortal  re- 
mains of  Chief  Justice  Marshall.  Time  has  assuaged  the  first 
agonies  of  grief  of  the  immediate  relatives  who  were  called  to 
mourn  over  so  afflictive  a  loss ;  and  others,  who,  looking  to  the 
claims  of  private  friendship  or  to  the  public  interests,  were  as- 
tounded at  a  blow,  which,  though  not  unexpected,  came  at  last 
with  a  startling  force,  have  had  leisure  to  recover  from  their 
perturbation,  and  may  now  contemplate  the  event  with  a  calm 
though  profound  melancholy. 

It  is  under  these  circumstances  that  we  are  now  assembled 
together  to  devote  a  brief  space  of  time  to  the  consideration  of 
his  life,  character,  and  services ;  and  then  to  return  again  to  the 
affairs  of  the  world,  edified,  as  I  may  hope,  by  what  he  was,  and 
warmed  and  elevated  by  a  nearer  approach  to  excellences,  which, 
if  we  may  not  reach,  we  may  yet  gaze  on  with  devout  respect  and 
reverence.  I  am  not  insensible  of  the  difficulties  of  the  task  of 
worthily  discharging  the  duties  of  the  present  occasion.  I  am 
but  too  conscious  how  much  more  successfully  it  would  have  been 
accomplished  in  other  hands,  and  how  little  is  my  own  ability  to 
do  justice  even  to  my  own  feelings  in  attempting  a  sketch  of  such 
a  man.  I  have  not,  however,  felt  at  liberty  to  decline  the  part 
which  has  been  assigned  to  me  in  the  commemorations  of  this 
day,  lest  I  should  be  thought  wanting  in  readiness  to  do  homage 
to  one  who  was  the  highest  boast  and  ornament  of  the  profession. 

5 


There  is  this  consolation,  nevertheless,  in  undertaking  the  task, 
that  it  requires  no  labored  vindication  of  motives  or  actions. 
His  life  speaks  its  own  best  eulogy.  It  had  such  a  simplicity, 
purity,  consistency,  and  harmony,  that  the  narrative  of  the 
events  in  their  natural  order  invests  it  with  an  attraction  which 
art  need  not  seek  to  heighten,  and  friendship  may  well  be  con- 
tent to  leave  with  its  original  coloring. 

Of  the  great  men  who  have  appeared  in  the  world,  many  have 
been  distinguished  by  the  splendor  of  their  birth  or  station; 
many  by  the  boldness  or  variety  of  their  achievements;  and 
many  by  peculiarities  of  genius  or  conduct,  which,  from  the  ex- 
traordinary contrasts  presented  by  them,  have  awakened  the 
curiosity  or  gratified  the  love  of  novelty  of  the  giddy  multitude. 
I  know  not  how  it  has  happened,  but  so,  I  fear,  the  fact  will  be 
found  to  be,  that  high  moral  qualities  are  rarely  the  passport  to 
extensive  popular  favor  or  renown.  J^ay;  a  calm  and  steady 
virtue,  which  acts  temperately  and  wisely,  and  never  plunges 
into  indiscretion  or  extravagance,  is  but  too  often  confounded 
with  dullness  or  frigidity  of  temperament.  It  seems  as  if  it 
were  deemed  the  prerogative,  if  not  the  attribute,  of  genius,  to 
indulge  itself  in  eccentricities,  and  to  pass  from  one  extreme  to 
another,  leaving  behind  it  the  dark  impressions  of  its  vices  or 
its  follies.  The  deeper  movements  of  the  soul  in  the  inmost 
workings  of  its  thoughts  are  supposed  to  display  themselves  like 
volcanoes  in  the  natural  world,  by  occasional  explosions  which 
awe,  but  at  the  same  time  excite  the  crowd  of  eager  spectators. 
They  are  struck  with  admiration  of  what  they  do  not  compre- 
hend; and  mistake  their  own  emotions  for  the  presence  of  su- 
perior power.  They  are  bewildered  by  the  shifting  exhibition, 
alternately  of  brilliant  deeds  and  debasing  passions,  of  intel- 
lectual efforts  of  transcendent  energy,  and  paradoxes  of  over- 
wrought ingenuity ;  and,  being  unable  to  fathom  the  motives  or 
sources  of  anomalies,  they  confound  extravagance  with  enter- 
prise and  the  dreams  of  wild  ambition  with  lofty  and  well-con- 
sidered designs. 

And  yet  if  there  is  anything  taught  us,  either  by  the  precepts 
of  Christianity  or  the  history  of  our  race,  it  is  that  true  great- 
ness is  inseparable  from  sound  morals;  that  the  highest  wisdom 

6 


is  but  another  name  for  the  highest  talents;  that  the  genius 
which  burns  with  a  pure  and  regulated  flame  throws  far  and 
wide  its  beneficent  light  to  guide  and  cheer  us ;  while  occasional 
corruscations  serve  only  to  perplex  and  betray  us,  or  (to  borrow 
the  language  of  poetry)  serve  but  to  make  the  surrounding  dark- 
ness more  visible.  The  calm  and  patient  researches  of  E'ewton  and 
Locke  have  conferred  far  more  lasting  benefits  on  mankind  than 
all  the  achievements  of  all  the  mere  heroes  and  conquerors  of 
ancient  or  modern  times.  One  patriot  like  Epaminondas, 
Scipio,  or  Washington,  outweighs  a  host  of  Alexanders,  Caesars, 
and  ]^apoleons.  The  fame  of  Justinian  as  a  fortunate  possessor 
of  the  imperial  purple  would  have  long  since  faded  into  an  al- 
most evanescent  point  in  history,  if  his  memorable  Codes  of  Ju- 
risprudence had  not  secured  him  an  enviable  immortality  by  the 
instruction  which  they  have  imparted  to  the  legislation  of  all 
succeeding  times.  He  who  has  been  enabled,  by  the  force  of 
his  talents  and  the  example  of  his  virtues,  to  identify  his  owm 
character  with  the  solid  interests  and  happiness  of  his  country ; 
he  who  has  lived  long  enough  to  stamp  the  impressions  of  his 
own  mind  upon  the  age,  and  has  left  on  record  lessons  of  wis- 
dom for  the  study  and  improvement  of  all  posterity ;  he,  I  say, 
has  attained  all  that  a  truly  good  man  aims  at,  and  all  that  a 
truly  great  man  should  aspire  to.  He  has  erected  a  monument  to 
his  memory  in  the  hearts  of  men.  Their  gratitude  will  perpet- 
ually, though  it  may  be  silently,  breathe  forth  his  praises ;  and 
the  voluntary  homage  paid  to  his  name  will  speak  a  language 
more  intelligible  and  more  universal  than  any  epitaph  inscribed 
on  Parian  marble,  or  any  image  wrought  out  by  the  cunning 
hands  of  sculpture. 

Reflections  like  these  naturally  crowd  upon  the  mind  upon 
the  death  of  every  great  man ;  but  especially  of  every  one  who 
may  be  justly  deemed  a  benefactor  and  ornament  of  his  race. 
In  the  present  case,  there  is  little  occasion  to  point  out  the  man- 
ner or  the  measure  of  their  application. 

John  Marshall  was  bom  on  the  24th  day  of  September, 
1Y55  (a  little  more  than  eighty  years  ago),  in  the  county  of 
Fauquier,  in  the  State  of  Virginia.  His  father  was  Thomas 
Marshall,  a  native  of  the  same  State,  and  at  the  time  of  his  birth 

7 


a  planter  of  narrow  fortune  and  retired  habits.  Of  this  gentle- 
man, who  afterwards  served  with  great  distinction  during  the 
Revolutionary  War,  having  been  appointed  to  the  command  of 
one  of  the  Continental  regiments  of  infantry,  it  is  proper  to  say 
a  few  words  in  this  place.  He  was  a  man  of  uncommon  capac- 
ity and  vigor  of  intellect ;  and  though  his  original  education  was 
very  imperfect,  he  overcame  this  disadvantage  by  the  diligence 
and  perseverance  with  which  he  cultivated  his  natural  endow- 
ments ;  so  that  he  soon  acquired,  and  maintained  throughout  the 
course  of  his  life,  among  associates  of  no  mean  character,  the 
reputation  of  masculine  sense  and  extraordinary  judgment  and 
ability.  JSTo  better  proof,  indeed,  need  be  adduced  to  justify 
this  opinion  than  the  fact  that  he  possessed  the  unbounded  confi- 
dence, respect,  and  admiration  of  all  his  children  at  that  mature 
period  of  their  lives  when  they  were  fully  able  to  appreciate  his 
worth,  and  to  compare  and  measure  him  with  other  men  of 
known  eminence.  I  have  myself  often  heard  the  Chief  Justice 
speak  of  him  in  terms  of  the  deepest  affection  and  reverence. 
I  do  not  here  refer  to  his  public  remarks ;  but  to  his  private  and 
familiar  conversations  with  me,  when  there  was  no  other  listener. 
Indeed,  he  never  named  his  father  on  these  occasions  without 
dwelling  on  his  character  with  a  fond  and  winning  enthusiasm. 
It  was  a  theme  on  which  he  broke  out  with  a  spontaneous  elo- 
quence ;  and,  in  the  spirit  of  the  most  persuasive  confidence,  he 
would  delight  to  expatiate  upon  his  virtues  and  talents.  "My 
father,"  would  he  say  with  kindled  feelings  and  emphasis,  "my 
father  was  a  far  abler  man  than  any  of  his  sons.  To  him  I  owe 
the  solid  foundation  of  all  my  own  success  in  life."  Such  praise 
from  such  lips  is  inexpressibly  precious.  I  know  not  whether 
it  be  most  honorable  to  the  parent  or  to  the  child.  It  warms, 
while  it  elevates  our  admiration  of  both.  What,  indeed,  can  be 
more  affecting  than  such  a  tribute  of  filial  gratitude  to  the  mem- 
ory of  a  parent,  long  after  death  has  set  its  seal  upon  his  char- 
acter, and  at  such  a  distance  of  time  as  leaves  no  temptation 
to  pious  sorrow  to  exaggerate  what  he  was,  or  to  excite  the  im- 
agination to  paint  what  he  might  have  been. 

Colonel  Marshall  had  fifteen  children,  several  of  whom  are 
still  living.     Some  of  them,  besides  the  one  of  whom  I  am  main- 

8 


ly  to  speak,  have  attained  high  distinction  as  scholars  and  states- 
men ;  and  one,  whom  I  do  not  feel  privileged  to  name,  enjoys  the 
reputation  of  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  that  most  difficult 
of  all  studies,  the  Philosophy  of  History. 

John  was  the  eldest  son,  and  of  course  was  the  earliest  to  en- 
gage the  solicitude  of  his  father.  The  means  of  obtaining  any 
suitable  education  at  the  family  residence  were  at  that  period 
scanty  and  inadequate.  Fauquier  was  then  a  frontier  county 
in  the  State;  and  whoever  will  carry  back  his  thoughts  to  the 
dangers  and  difficulties  of  such  a  local  position,  far  in  advance 
of  the  ordinary  reach  of  compact  population,  will  readily  com- 
prehend the  embarrassments  and  sacrifices  with  which  it  was 
attended.  Colonel  Marshall  was  thus  compelled  exclusively  to 
superintend  the  education  of  all  his  children ;  and,  perceiving  the 
rapid  development  of  the  talents  of  his  eldest  son,  he  gave  him 
a  decided  taste  for  the  study  of  English  literature,  and  especially 
for  poetry  and  history.  At  the  age  of  twelve,  the  latter  had 
transcribed  the  whole  of  Pope's  Essay  on  Man,  and  some  of  his 
moral  essays ;  and  had  committed  to  memory  many  of  the  most 
interesting  passages  of  that  distinguished  poet. 

The  love  of  poetry,  thus  awakened  in  his  warm  and  vigorous 
mind,  soon  exerted  a  commanding  influence  over  it.  He  be- 
came enamored  of  the  classical  writers  of  the  old  English  school, 
of  Milton,  and  Shakespeare,  and  Dryden,  and  Pope;  and  was 
instructed  by  their  solid  sense  and  beautiful  imagery.  In  the 
enthusiasm  of  youth,  he  often  indulged  himself  in  poetical  com- 
positions, and  freely  gave  up  his  leisure  hours  to  those  delicious 
dreamings  with  the  muses,  which,  say  what  we  may,  constitute 
with  many  the  purest  source  of  pleasure  in  the  gayer  scenes  of 
life,  and  the  sweetest  consolation  in  the  hours  of  adversity.  It 
has,  indeed,  been  said  by  Sir  James  Mackintosh,  that  all  men  of 
genius  delight  to  take  refuge  in  poetry  from  the  vulgarity  and 
irritation  of  business.  Without  yielding  to  so  general  and 
sweeping  a  conclusion,  it  may  be  truly  said,  that  it  is  not  un- 
congenial with  the  highest  attributes  of  genius,  and  is  often 
found  an  accompaniment  of  its  nicer  sympathies. 

One  of  the  best  recommendations,  indeed,  of  the  early  culti- 
vation of  a  taste  for  poetry,  and  the  kindred  branches  of  litera- 

9 


ture,  is,  that  it  does  not  expire  with  youth.  It  affords  to  ma- 
turer  years  a  refreshing  relaxation  from  the  severe  cares  of  busi- 
ness, and  to  old  age  a  quiet  and  welcome  employment,  always 
within  reach,  and  always  bringing  with  it,  if  not  the  charm  of 
novelty,  at  least  the  soothing  reminiscences  of  other  days.  The 
votary  of  the  muses  may  not  always  tread  upon  enchanted 
ground;  but  the  gentle  influences  of  fiction  and  song  will  steal 
over  his  thoughts,  and  breathe,  as  it  were,  into  his  soul  the  fra- 
grance of  a  second  spring  of  life. 

Throughout  the  whole  of  his  life,  and  down  to  its  very  close, 
Mr.  Marshall  continued  to  cultivate  a  taste  for  general  litera- 
ture, and  especially  for  those  departments  of  it,  which  had  been 
the  favorite  studies  of  his  youth.  He  was  familiar  with  all  its 
light,  as  well  as  its  more  recondite,  productions.  He  read  with 
intense  interest,  as  his  leisure  would  allow,  all  the  higher  litera- 
ture of  modem  times;  and,  especially,  the  works  of  the  great 
masters  of  the  art  were  his  constant  delight.  While  the  com- 
mon publications  of  the  day  fell  from  his  hands  with  a  cold  in- 
difference, he  kindled  with  enthusiasm  at  the  names  of  the  great 
novelists  and  poets  of  the  age,  and  discussed  their  relative  pow- 
ers and  merits  with  a  nice  and  discriminating  skill,  as  if  he  were 
but  yesterday  fresh  from  the  perusal  of  them. 

To  many  persons  it  may  seem  strange  that  such  a  love  of 
letters,  and  especially  of  works  of  imagination,  should  ever  be 
found  combined  with  the  severe  logic  and  closeness  of  thought 
which  belonged  to  his  character,  and  gave  such  a  grave  cast  to  all 
his  juridical  labors.  But  the  truth  is,  that  the  union  is  far  less 
uncommon  in  the  highest  class  of  minds,  than  slight  observers 
are  apt  to  suppose.  There  is  not  only  no  incompatibility  in 
pursuits  of  such  opposite  tendencies;  but  men  of  genius,  more 
than  any  other  persons,  from  their  lively  sensibility  to  excel- 
lence, are  prone  to  have  their  curiosity  awakened  by  any  exhibi- 
tion of  it,  in  whatever  department  of  knowledge  or  art  it  may  be 
displayed.  They  feel  the  presence  of  superior  power ;  they  are 
touched  by  the  sublime  reaches  of  kindred  spirits ;  they  gaze  on 
the  wonders  of  that  workmanship  whose  exquisite  proportions 
they  understand,  and  whose  difficulties  of  execution  they  appre- 
ciate.    They  see  the  glory  of  that  eminence,  which  is  so  proudly 

10 


won,  and  so  bravely  maintained.  But  they  can  also  measure 
what  few  other  persons  can,  what  vast  resources  and  uncounted 
labors  have  been  exhausted  in  the  attainment.  Thus,  their  sym- 
pathies are  excited  by  every  triumph  of  the  human  intellect ;  and 
the  very  contrast  of  their  own  favorite  studies  and  pursuits  with 
those  of  others  opens  upon  them  new  sources  of  pleasure,  in  sur- 
veying the  variety,  as  well  as  the  magnificence,  of  human  genius. 
But  to  return  to  my  narrative. 

There  being  no  grammar  school  in  the  neighborhood,  young 
Marshall,  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  was  sent  for  his  education  about 
a  hundred  miles  from  his  home,  and  was  placed  under  the  tui- 
tion of  Mr.  Campbell,  a  clergyman  of  great  respectability.  He 
remained  with  him  a  year,  and  then  returned  home,  and  was 
placed  under  the  care  of  a  Scotch  gentleman,  who  was  just  then 
inducted  as  pastor  of  the  parish,  and  resided  in  his  father's  fam- 
ily. He  pursued  his  classical  studies  under  the  care  of  this 
reverend  pastor  as  long  as  he  resided  in  the  family,  which  was 
about  a  year ;  and  he  had  at  that  time  commenced  the  reading  of 
Livy  and  Horace.  After  this  period  he  was  left  to  his  own  un- 
assisted diligence;  and  his  subsequent  mastery  of  the  Classics 
was  accomplished  without  any  other  aids  than  his  grammar  and 
dictionary.  He  never  had  the  benefit  of  any  instruction  in  any 
college,  or  other  public  institution ;  and  his  attainments  in  learn- 
ing, such  as  they  were,  were  nourished  by  the  solitary  vigils  of 
his  own  genius.  In  English  literature,  he  continued  to  receive 
the  fostering  care  and  assistance  of  his  father,  who  directed  his 
studies,  and  contributed,  in  an  eminent  degree,  to  cherish  his 
love  of  knowledge ;  to  give  a  solid  cast  to  his  acquirements ;  and 
to  store  his  mind  with  the  most  valuable  materials.  It  is  to  this 
circumstance  that  we  are  mainly  to  attribute  that  decided  at- 
tachment to  the  writers  of  the  golden  age  of  English  literature, 
which  at  all  times  he  avowed  and  vindicated  with  a  glowing  con- 
fidence in  its  importance,  and  its  superior  excellence.  His 
father,  too,  at  this  period,  was  not  only  a  watchful  parent,  but  a 
most  useful  and  affectionate  friend ;  and  he  became  the  constant, 
as  he  was  also  almost  the  only  intelligent,  companion  of  his  son. 
The  time  which  was  not  thus  passed  in  the  society  of  his  father, 
he  employed  in  hardy,  athletic  exercises  in  the  open  air.     He  en- 

11 


gaged  in  field  sports;  he  wandered  in  the  deep  woods;  he  in- 
dulged his  solitary  meditations  amidst  the  wilder  scenery  of  na- 
ture ;  he  delighted  to  brush  away  the  earliest  dews  of  the  morn- 
ing, and  to  watch  the  varied  magnificence  of  sunset,  until  its 
last  beams  ceased  to  play  on  the  dark  tops  of  the  noiseless  forest. 
It  was  to  these  early  habits  in  a  mountainous  region,  that  he  prob- 
ably owed  that  robust  and  vigorous  constitution  which  carried 
him  almost  to  the  close  of  his  life  with  the  freshness  and  firm- 
ness of  manhood. 

It  was  about  the  time  when  young  Marshall  entered  on  the 
eighteenth  year  of  his  age  that  the  controversy  between  Great 
Britain  and  her  American  Colonies,  which  ended  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  independence  of  the  latter,  began  to  assume  a 
portentous  aspect.  It  could  not  fail  to  engage  the  attention  of 
all  the  Colonists,  whether  they  were  young,  or  old.  in  the  retire- 
ment of  private  life,  or  in  the  exercise  of  public  political  func- 
tions. It  was  a  stirring  theme  of  conversation,  involving  inter- 
ests of  such  vast  magnitude,  and  consequences  of  such  enduring 
influence,  that  every  patriot  felt  himself  called  upon  by  a  sense 
of  duty  to  arouse  himself  for  the  approaching  exigency.  Young 
Marshall  could  not  be  indift'erent  to  it.  He  entered  into  the  con- 
troversy wdth  all  the  zeal  and  enthusiasm  of  a  youth  full  of  the 
love  of  his  country,  and  deeply  sensible  of  its  rights  and  its 
wrongs.  Partaking  of  the  spirit  and  energy  of  his  father,  he 
immediately  devoted  his  time,  with  a  prophetic  foresight,  to  the 
acquisition  of  the  rudiments  of  military  manoeuvers  in  an  inde- 
pendent company  of  volunteers,  composed  of  gentlemen  of  the 
same  county,  to  the  training  of  a  company  of  the  militia  of  the 
neighborhood,  and  to  the  diligent  reading  of  the  political  essays 
of  the  day.  For  these  animating  pursuits  he  was  quite  content 
to  relinquish  all  his  literary  studies;  and  the  pages  of  Black- 
stone's  Commentaries,  to  which  he  had  already  begun  to  direct 
his  ambition,  were  forgotten  amidst  the  din  of  arms  and  the 
preparations  for  open  hostilities. 

In  the  summer  of  1775,  he  was  appointed  the  first  lieutenant 
of  a  company  of  minute  men,  who  were  enrolled  for  active  serv- 
ice, and  assembled  in  battalion  at  the  beginning  of  the  ensuing 
September.     In  a  few  davs  they  were  ordered  to  march  into  the 

12 


lower  country,  for  the  purpose  of  defending  it  against  a  small 
predatory  force  of  regulars  commanded  by  Lord  Dunmore,  and 
also  of  assisting  in  the  relief  of  Norfolk,  with  some  other  pro- 
vincial troops.  Hearing  of  their  approach,  Lord  Dunmore  took 
an  advantageous  position  on  the  north  side  of  Elizabeth,  near 
the  great  bridge,  and  at  a  small  distance  from  Norfolk.  A  bat- 
tle soon  afterwards  took  place  between  the  opposing  bodies,  in 
which  the  British  were  repulsed  with  great  gallantry.  On  this 
occasion  Lieutenant  Marshall  took  an  active  part,  and  had  a  full 
share  of  the  honors  of  the  day.  The  provincials,  immediately 
after  the  retreat  of  the  British,  made  their  way  to  Norfolk ;  and 
Lieutenant  Marshall  was  present  when  that  city  was  set  on  iire 
by  a  detachment  from  the  British  ships,  then  lying  in  the  river. 

In  July,  1776,  he  received  the  appointment  of  first  lieutenant 
in  the  eleventh  regiment  on  the  Continental  establishment ;  and 
in  the  succeeding  winter  he  marched  with  his  regiment  to  the 
Middle  States,  then  the  scene  of  an  harassing  warfare;  and  in 
May,  1777,  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  captain.  From  this 
period  he  remained  constantly  in  service  until  the  close  of  the 
year  1779.  He  was  present  at  the  skirmish  with  the  British 
light  infantry  at  Iron  Hill ;  and  he  fought  in  the  memorable  bat- 
tles of  Brandywine,  Germantown,  and  Monmouth.  During  this 
period  of  his  military  life,  he  was  often  employed  to  act  as 
Deputy  Judge  Advocate,  a  situation  which  brought  him  to  a  large 
acquaintance  with  the  officers  of  the  army,  by  whom  he  was 
greatly  beloved,  and  among  whom  he  deservedly  acquired  an  ex- 
tensive influence.  I  myself  have  often  heard  him  spoken  of  by 
some  of  these  veterans  in  terms  of  the  warmest  praise.  In  an 
especial  manner  the  Revolutionary  officers  of  the  Virginia  line 
(now  ^'few  and  faint,  but  fearless  still  ")  appeared  almost  to 
idolize  him,  as  an  old  friend  and  companion  in  arms,  enjoying 
their  unqualified  confidence. 

It  was  during  his  performance  of  the  duties  of  Judge  Advo- 
cate, that  he  for  the  first  time  (I  believe)  became  personally  ac- 
quainted with  General  Washington,  and  (I  am  sure)  with 
Colonel  (afterwards  General)  Hamilton;  for  both  of  whom,  it 
needs  scarcely  to  be  said,  he  always  entertained  the  deepest  re- 
spect, and  whose  unreserved  friendship,  at  a  subsequent  period 

13 


of  his  life,  he  familiarly  enjoyed.  His  opinion  of  Washington 
is  sufficiently  manifested  in  his  biography  of  that  great  man. 
Of  Hamilton  he  always  spoke  in  the  most  unreserved  manner,  as 
a  soldier  and  statesman  of  consummate  ability ;  and  in  a  point  of 
comprehensiveness  of  mind,  purity  of  patriotism,  and  soundness 
of  principles,  as  among  the  first  that  had  ever  graced  the  coun- 
cils of  any  nation.  His  services  to  the  American  Republic  he 
deemed  to  have  been  of  inestimable  value,  and  such  as  had  emi- 
nently conduced  to  its  stability,  its  prosperity,  and  its  true 
glory. 

There  being,  in  the  winter  of  1779,  a  great  surplus  of  officers 
belonging  to  the  Virginia  line,  beyond  the  immediate  exigencies 
of  the  service,  the  supernumeraries,  among  whom  was  Captain 
Marshall,  were  directed  to  return  home,  in  order  to  take  charge 
of  such  men  as  the  State  legislature  might  raise  for  their  com- 
mand. It  was  in  this  interval  of  military  inactivity,  that  he 
availed  himself  of  the  opportunity  of  attending  at  William  and 
Mary's  College  the  course  of  law  lectures  of  Mr.  (afterwards 
Chancellor)  Wythe,  and  the  lectures  upon  natural  philosophy  of 
the  then  president  of  the  college,  Mr.  (afterwards  Bishop)  Mad- 
ison. He  left  that  institution  in  the  summer  vacation  of  1780 ; 
and  soon  afterAvards  received  the  usual  license  to  practise  law. 
In  October  of  the  same  year  he  returned  to  the  army,  and  con- 
tinued in  active  service  until  after  the  termination  of  Arnold's 
invasion  of  Virginia.  Finding  that  the  same  redundancy  of 
officers  in  the  Virginia  line  still  continued,  he  then  resigned  his 
commission,  and  addicted  himself  to  the  study  of  his  future  pro- 
fession. The  courts  of  law  were  suspended  in  Virginia  until 
after  the  capture  of  Lord  Cornwallis  and  his  army  at  the  mem- 
orable siege  at  Yorktown.  As  soon  as  they  were  reopened,  Mr. 
Marshall  commenced  the  practice  of  the  law,  and  soon  rose  into 
high  distinction  at  the  bar. 

In  the  spring  of  1782,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  State 
legislature ;  and,  in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  a  member  of 
the  State  executive  council.  In  January,  1783,  he  married  Miss 
Ambler,  the  daughter  of  the  then  Treasurer  of  the  State,  to  whom 
he  had  become  attached  before  he  quitted  the  army.  With  this 
lady  he  lived  in  a  state  of  the  most  devoted  conjugal  affection 

14 


for  nearly  fifty  years ;  and  her  death,  not  quite  three  years  ago, 
cast  a  gloom  over  his  thoughts,  from  which  I  do  not  think  he  ever 
fully  recovered.  About  the  time  of  his  marriage  he  took  up  his 
permanent  residence  in  the  city  of  Richmond.  In  the  spring 
of  1784,  he  resigned  his  seat  at  the  council  board,  in  order  to  de- 
vote himself  more  exclusively  to  the  duties  of  the  bar.  He  was 
immediately  afterwards  elected  a  member  of  the  legislature  by 
the  county  of  Fauquier,  a  tribute  of  respect  from  the  spot  of  his 
nativity  the  more  marked  because  he  had  already  ceased  to  have 
anything  but  a  nominal  residence  there.  In  1787,  he  was  elect- 
ed a  member  of  the  legislature  by  the  county  of  Henrico;  and 
he  soon  embarked  in  all  the  perplexing  political  questions  which 
then  agitated  the  State. 

It  is  to  this  period, — between  the  close  of  the  war  of  the  Revo- 
lution, and  the  adoption  of  the  present  Constitution  of  the  United 
States, — that  we  are  to  refer  the  gradual  development  and  final 
establishment  of  those  political  opinions  and  principles,  which 
constituted  the  basis  of  all  the  public  actions  of  his  subsequent 
life.  He  had  entered  the  army  with  all  the  enthusiasm  of  a 
young  man,  ardent  in  the  cause  of  liberty,  devoted  to  his  coun- 
try, glowing  with  confidence  in  the  wisdom  and  virtue  of  the 
people,  and  unsuspicious  that  they  could  ever  be  seduced  or  be- 
trayed into  any  conduct  not  warranted  by  the  purest  public  prin- 
ciples. He  knew  the  disinterestedness  of  his  own  heart ;  and  he 
could  not  believe,  nay,  he  could  not  even  imagine,  that  it  was 
possible,  that  a  republic,  founded  for  the  common  good,  should 
not,  at  all  times  and  under  all  circumstances,  be  exclusively  ad- 
ministered for  this  single  purpose.  The  very  suggestion  of  any 
doubt  upon  the  subject  led  him  to  distrust,  not  his  own  judgment, 
but  the  intelligence  or  integrity  of  those  who  ventured  to  breathe 
that  doubt,  even  in  the  softest  whispers.  He  had  never  heard  of 
the  profound  remark  of  a  great  statesman,  that  a  young  man 
who  was  not  an  enthusiast,  in  matters  of  government,  must 
possess  low  and  grovelling  principles  of  action ;  but  that  an 
old  man  who  was  an  enthusiast  must  have  lived  to  little  purpose. 
He  could  have  learned  nothing  worth  remembering ;  or  remem- 
bered only  what  was  fit  to  be  forgotten.  Like  the  shepherd  in 
Virgil,  in  the  simplicity  of  his  heart  he  thought  that  all  things 

15 


were  at  Rome  as  they  were  at  Mantua ; — Sic  parvis  componere 
magna  solehat.  Amidst  the  din  of  arms,  he  found  no  leisure  to 
study  the  science  of  government.  He  deemed  it  useless  to  con- 
sider how  liberty  was  to  be  enjoyed  and  protected,  until  it  was 
won.  The  contest  for  national  existence  was  then  instant  and 
pressing.  The  only  lights  which  were  on  the  paths  of  the  pa- 
triot, to  guide  or  instruct  him,  were  those  which  glanced  from  the 
point  of  his  sword.  The  midnight  hours  were  to  be  passed,  not 
in  soft  serenities  of  meditation,  but  in  mounting  guard  on  the 
outposts ;  in  stealthy  patrols  along  the  lines  of  the  enemy ;  or  in 
repelling  the  deadly  attack  in  the  midst  of  the  flashes  and  the 
roar  of  well-directed  musketry  and  cannon. 

"When  I  recollect"  (said  he,  in  a  letter  written  long  after- 
wards to  a  friend)  "the  wild  and  enthusiastic  notions  with 
which  my  political  opinions  of  that  day  were  tinctured,  I  am  dis- 
posed to  ascribe  my  devotion  to  the  Union,  and  to  a  government 
competent  to  its  preservation,  at  least  as  much  to  casual  circum- 
stances, as  to  judgment.  I  had  grown  up  at  a  time  when  the 
love  of  the  Union,  and  the  resistance  to  the  claims  of  Great  Brit- 
ain, were  the  inseparable  inmates  of  the  same  bosom ;  when  pa- 
triotism and  a  strong  fellow  feeling  with  our  suffering  fellow-cit- 
izens of  Boston  were  identical ;  when  the  maxim,  ^United  we 
stand,  divided  we  fall,'  was  the  maxim  of  every  orthodox  Ameri- 
can. And  I  had  imbibed  these  sentiments  so  thoroughly  that 
they  constituted  a  part  of  my  being.  I  carried  them  with  me 
into  the  army,  where  I  found  myself  associated  with  brave  men 
from  different  States,  who  were  risking  life  and  every  thing  val- 
uable, in  a  common  cause,  believed  by  all  to  be  most  precious ; 
and  where  I  was  confirmed  in  the  habit  of  considering  America 
as  my  country,  and  congress  as  my  government." 

But  the  times  were  now  arrived,  in  which  the  dreams  of  his 
early  manhood  were  to  be  rigidly  compared  with  the  sober  real- 
ities about  him.  The  Revolution,  with  its  strong  excitements, 
and  its  agitations  of  alternate  hopes  and  fears,  had  passed  away. 
The  national  independence  had  been  achieved ;  and  the  feverish 
and  restless  activity  of  the  past  had  given  place  to  a  state  of  lan- 
guor and  exhaustion,  which  made  the  advent  of  peace  itself  a  pe- 
riod of  renewed  anxieties,  and  heavier  cares.     What  had  been 

16 


gained  by  the  sword  was  now  to  be  secured  by  civil  wisdom ;  by 
the  establishment  of  wholesome  laws,  sound  institutions,  and 
well-regulated  government.  And  deeply  and  painfully  did 
every  lover  of  his  country  then  feel  the  truth  of  the  remark 
of  Milton, —  'Teace  hath  her  victories,  no  less  renowned  than 
War." 

Whoever  is  well  read  in  our  domestic  history  cannot  have  for- 
gotten the  dangers  and  difficulties  of  those  days.  The  close  of 
the  war  of  the  Revolution  found  the  whole  country  impoverished 
and  exhausted  by  the  necessary  expenditures  of  the  contest. 
Some  of  the  States  had  made  enormous  sacrifices  to  provide  their 
own  just  contributions  for  the  public  service ;  and  most  of  them 
had  been  compelled  to  resort  to  the  ruinous  expedient  of  a  paper 
currency,  to  supply  their  own  immediate  wants.  The  national 
finances  were  at  the  lowest  ebb  of  depression.  The  Continental 
congress  had  issued  more  than  three  hundred  millions  of  paper 
money,  purporting  on  its  face  to  contain  a  solemn  pledge  of  the 
faith  of  the  Union  for  its  due  redemption,  which  pledge  had  been 
as  notoriously  violated.  And,  indeed,  this  paper  money  had 
sunk  to  the  value  of  one  dollar  only  for  one  hundred ;  and  at  last 
had  ceased  in  fact  to  circulate  at  all  as  currency.  The  national 
debt  was  not  only  not  discharged ;  but  was  without  any  means  of 
being  discharged,  even  as  to  the  interest  due  upon  it.  The  army 
had  been  disbanded  with  long  arrearages  of  pay  outstanding ; 
and  the  discontents  of  those  noble  bands,  which  had  saved  the 
country,  were  listened  to,  only  to  be  disregarded.  The  very 
magnitude  of  the  public  evils  almost  discouraged  every  effort  to 
redress  them.  The  usual  consequences  of  such  a  state  of  things 
had  been  fully  realized.  Private,  as  well  as  public,  credit  was 
destroyed.  Agriculture  and  commerce  were  crippled;  manu- 
factures could  not,  in  any  strict  sense,  be  said  to  have  an  exist- 
ence. They  were  in  a  state  of  profound  lethargy.  The  little 
money  which  yet  remained  in  specie  in  the  country  was  subject 
to  a  perpetual  drain,  to  purchase  the  ordinary  supplies  from  for- 
eign countries.  The  whole  industry  of  the  country  was  at  a 
stand.  Our  artisans  were  starving  in  the  streets,  without  the 
means  or  the  habits  of  regular  employment ;  and  the  disbanded 
officers  of  the  army  found  themselves,  not  only  without  re- 
Marshall— 2.  17 


sources,  but  without  occupation.  Under  such  circumstances, 
the  popular  murmurs  were  not  only  loud,  but  deep ;  and  the  gen- 
eral distress  became  so  appalling  that  it  threatened  a  shipwreck 
of  all  our  free  institutions.  In  short,  we  seemed  to  have  escaped 
from  the  dominion  of  the  parent  country,  only  to  sink  into  a  more 
galling  domestic  bondage.  Our  very  safety  was  felt  to  be  main- 
ly dependent  upon  the  jealousy  or  forbearance  of  foreign  gov- 
ernments. 

What  aggravated  all  these  evils  was  the  utter  hopelessness  of 
any  effectual  remedy  under  the  existing  form  of  the  national  gov- 
ernment; if,  indeed,  that  might  be  said  to  deserve  the  name, 
which  was  but  the  shadow  of  a  government.  The  union  of  the 
States  at  the  commencement  of  the  revolutionary  contest  was 
forced  upon  us  by  circumstances;  and  from  its  nature  and  ob- 
jects seemed  limited  to  that  precise  exigency.  The  Confedera- 
tion, which  was  subsequently  framed,  was  conceived  in  a  spirit 
of  extreme  jealousy  of  national  sovereignty,  and  withal  was  so 
feeble  and  loose  in  its  texture  that  reflecting  minds  foresaw  that 
it  could  scarcely  survive  the  revolutionary  contest.  Yet  feeble  and 
loose  as  was  its  texture,  it  encountered  the  most  obstinate  oppo- 
sition at  every  step  of  its  progress ;  and  it  was  not  finally  adopt- 
ed until  the  war  was  about  to  close,  in  1781.  The  powers  of 
congress,  under  the  Confederation,  were,  for  the  most  part,  mere- 
ly recommendatory,  and  to  be  carried  into  effect  only  through 
the  instrumentality  of  the  States.  It  conferred  no  power  to 
raise  revenue,  or  levy  taxes,  or  enforce  obedience  to  laws,  or  reg- 
ulate commerce,  or  even  to  command  means  to  pay  our  public 
ministers  at  foreign  courts.  Congress  could  make  contracts ;  but 
could  not  provide  means  to  discharge  them.  They  could  pledge 
the  public  faith ;  but  they  could  not  redeem  it.  They  could  make 
public  treaties;  but  every  State  in  the  Union  might  disregard 
them  with  impunity.  They  could  enter  into  alliances ;  but  they 
could  not  command  men  or  money  to  give  them  vigor.  They 
could  declare  war ;  but  they  could  not  raise  troops ;  and  their 
only  resort  was  to  requisitions  on  the  States.  In  short,  all  the 
powers  given  by  the  Confederation,  which  did  not  execute  them- 
selves without  any  external  aid,  were  at  the  mere  mercy  of  the 
States,  and  might  be  trampled  upon  at  pleasure.     Even  that  mis- 

18 


erable  fragment  of  sovereignty,  the  power  to  levy  a  tax  of  ^ve  per 
cent  on  imports,  in  order  to  pay  the  public  debt,  and  until  it  was 
paid,  was  solemnly  rejected  By  the  States,  though  asked  by  con- 
gress in  terms  of  humble  entreaty,  and  the  most  affecting  appeals 
to  public  justice. 

The  result  was  obvious.  Without  the  power  to  lay  taxes,  con- 
gress was  palsied  in  all  their  operations.  Without  the  power  to 
regulate  commerce,  we  were  left  to  the  capricious  legislation  of 
every  State.  Nay,  more ;  our  trade  was  regulated,  taxed,  monop- 
olized, and  crippled  at  the  pleasure  of  the  maritime  powers  of 
Europe.  Every  State  managed  its  own  concerns  in  its  own  way ; 
the  systems  of  retaliation  for  real  or  imaginary  grievances  were 
perpetually  devised  and  enforced  against  neighboring  States. 
So  that,  instead  of  being  a  band  of  brothers,  united  in  common 
cause,  and  guided  by  a  common  interest,  the  States  were  every- 
where secret  or  open  enemies  to  each  other ;  and  we  were  on  the 
verge  of  a  border  warfare  of  interminable  irritation,  and  of  as  in- 
terminable mischiefs. 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  in  the  times  of  which  I  have  been 
speaking ;  and  strong  as  the  coloring  may  seem  to  those  whose 
birth  is  of  a  later  date,  it  falls  far  short  of  a  full  picture  of  the 
actual  extent  of  the  evils  which  the  details  of  the  facts  would  jus- 
tify. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  the  State  legislatures 
were  constantly  called  upon  by  public  clamor  and  private  suf- 
ferings, to  interpose  summary  remedies  to  ward  off  the  hard- 
ships of  the  times.  The  people,  loaded  with  debts,  and  goaded 
on  almost  to  madness  by  the  thickening  calamities,  demanded 
measures  of  relief  of  the  most  extravagant  nature.  The  relations 
of  debtor  and  creditor,  always  delicate,  became  every  day  more 
embarrassed  and  more  embarrassing.  Laws  suspending  the  col- 
lection of  debts ;  insolvent  laws ;  instalment  laws ;  tender  laws ; 
and  other  expedients  of  a  like  nature,  which  every  reflecting  man 
knew  would  only  aggravate  the  evils,  were  familiarly  adopted, 
or  openly  and  boldly  vindicated.  Popular  leaders,  as  well  as  men 
of  desperate  fortunes,  availed  themselves  (as  is  usual  on  such 
occasions)  of  this  agitating  state  of  things  to  inflame  the  public 
mind,  and  to  bring  into  public  odium  those  wiser  statesmen  who 

19 


labored  to  support  the  public  faith,  and  to  preserve  the  inviola- 
bility of  private  contracts. 

The  whole  country  soon  became  divided  into  two  great  par- 
ties, one  of  which  endeavored  to  put  an  end  to  the  public  evila 
by  the  establishment  of  an  efficient  national  government;  the 
other  adhered  to  the  State  sovereignties,  and  was  determined  at 
all  hazards  to  resist  the  increase  of  the  national  power.  Vir- 
ginia bore  her  full  share  in  these  political  controversies.  They 
were  constantly  debated  in  the  halls  of  her  legislature;  and 
whatever  might  be  the  fate  of  any  particular  debate,  the  contest 
was  perpetually  renewed ;  for  every  victory  was  but  a  temporary 
and  questionable  triumph,  and  every  defeat  left  still  enough  of 
hope  to  excite  the  vanquished  to  new  exertions.  At  this  distance 
of  time  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  conceive  the  zeal,  and  even  the 
animosity,  with  which  the  opposing  opinions  were  maintained. 
The  question,  whether  the  Union  ought  to  be  continued,  or  dis- 
solved by  a  total  separation  of  the  States,  was  freely  discussed ; 
and  either  side  of  it  was  maintained,  not  only  without  reproach, 
but  with  an  uncompromising  fearlessness  of  consequences. 
Those  who  clung  to  the  supremacy  of  the  States  looked  without 
dismay  upon  a  dissolution  of  the  Union ;  and  felt  no  compunc- 
tions in  surrendering  it.  Those,  on  the  other  hand,  who  deemed 
the  Union  the  ark  of  our  political  safety,  without  which  inde- 
pendence was  but  a  name,  shrunk  with  horror  from  the  thought 
of  its  dissolution ;  and  maintained  the  struggle  with  a  desperate 
valor,  as  the  death-grapple  for  constitutional  liberty. 

It  was  in  such  times  and  under  such  circumstances  that  Mr, 
Marshall,  while  yet  under  thirty  years  of  age,  was  called  upon 
to  take  an  active  part  in  the  legislative  deliberations,  as  well  as  in 
the  popular  meetings  in  his  native  State.  "My  immediate  en- 
trance," said  he,  in  the  letter  already  alluded  to,  "into  the  State 
legislature  opened  to  my  view  the  causes  which  had  been  chiefly 
instrumental  in  augmenting  those  sufferings  [meaning  of  the 
army]  ;  and  the  general  tendency  of  state  politics  convinced  me 
that  no  safe  and  permanent  remedy  could  be  found,  but  in  a  more 
efficient  and  better  organized  general  government."  Mr.  Mad- 
ison was  at  that  time,  and  had  for  some  years  before  been,  a 
member  of  the  State  legislature ;  and  stood  forth  on  all  occasionB 

20 


an  inflexible  and  enlightened  advocate  for  the  Union ;  and  Gen- 
eral Washington  was  the  acknowledged  head  and  supporter  of 
the  same  principles.  Mr.  Marshall  at  once  arrayed  himself  on 
the  side  of  these  great  leaders ;  and  while  Mr.  Madison  remained 
in  the  legislature  he  gave  him  a  bold  and  steady  support  in  all 
the  prominent  debates.  The  friendship  which  was  thus  formed 
between  them  was  never  extinguished.  The  recollection  of  their 
co-operation  at  that  period  served,  when  other  measures  had 
widely  separated  them  from  each  other,  still  to  keep  up  a  lively 
sense  of  each  other's  m.erits.  N^othing,  indeed,  could  be  more 
touching  to  an  ingenuous  mind  than  to  hear  from  their  lips,  in 
their  later  years,  expressions  of  mutual  respect  and  confidence ; 
or  to  witness  their  earnest  testimony  to  the  talents,  the  virtues, 
and  tlie  services  of  each  other. 

It  was  by  this  course  of  action  in  State  legislation  at  this  ap- 
palling period,  that  Mr.  Marshall  was  disciplined  to  the  thorough 
mastery  of  the  true  principles  of  free  government.  It  was  here 
that  he  learned  and  practised  those  profound  doctrines  of  ration- 
al, limited,  constitutional  liberty,  from  which  he  never  shrunk, 
and  to  which  he  resolutely  adhered  to  the  end  of  his  life.  It 
was  here  that  he  became  enamored,  not  of  a  wild  and  visionary 
republic,  found  only  in  the  imaginations  of  mere  enthusiasts  as 
to  human  perfection,  or  tricked  out  in  false  colors  by  the  selfish, 
to  flatter  the  prejudices  or  cheat  the  vanity  of  the  people ;  but  of 
that  well-balanced  republic,  adapted  to  human  wants  and  hu- 
man infirmities,  in  which  power  is  to  be  held  in  check  by  coun- 
tervailing power;  and  life,  liberty,  and  property  are  to  be  se- 
cured by  a  real  and  substantial  independence,  as  well  as  division 
of  the  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial  departments.  It  Avas 
here  that  he  learned  to  love  the  Union  with  a  supreme,  uncon- 
querable love ;  a  love  which  was  never  cooled  by  neglect,  or  alien- 
ated by  disappointment ;  a  love  which  survived  the  trials  of  ad- 
versity, and  the  still  more  dangerous  trials  of  prosperity ;  a  love 
which  clung  more  closely  to  its  object  as  it  seemed  less  dear  or 
less  valuable  in  the  eyes  of  others;  a  love  which  faltered  not, 
fainted  not,  wearied  not,  on  this  side  the  grave.  Yes ;  his 
thoughts  ever  dwelt  on  the  Union,  as  the  first  and  best  of  all  our 

21 


earthly  hopes.     The  last  expressions  which  lingered  on  his  dy- 
ing lips  breathed  forth  a  prayer  for  his  country. 

"Such  in  that  moment,  as  in  all  the  past, 
*0  save  my  country,  Heaven,'  was  then  his  last." 

While  these  exciting  discussions  were  absorbing  the  whole  at- 
tention of  the  State  legislatures,  the  Confederation  was  obviously 
approaching  its  final  dissolution.  It  had  passed  the  crisis  of  its 
fate ;  and  its  doom  was  fixed.  As  a  scheme  of  government  it  had 
utterly  failed;  and  the  moment  was  now  anxiously  expected, 
when,  from  mere  debility,  it  would  cease  to  have  even  a  nominal 
existence,  as  it  had  long  ceased  to  have  any  substantial  authority. 
The  friends  of  the  Union  determined  to  make  one  more  and  final 
effort.  A  convention  was  called,  which  framed  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States ;  and  it  was  presented  to  the  people  for  their 
ratification  or  rejection.  This  measure  at  once  gave  rise  to  new 
and  more  violent  political  controversies ;  and  the  whole  current 
of  popular  opinion  was  impetuously  hurried  into  new  channels. 
Parties  for  and  against  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  were 
immediately  organized  in  every  state ;  and  the  lines  of  political 
division  were  for  the  most  part  the  same  which  marked  the  for- 
mer parties.  Virginia,  as  a  leading  State,  became  the  scene  of 
the  most  active  exertions ;  and,  as  many  of  her  gifted  and  elo- 
quent men  were  arrayed  against  the  Constitution,  so  its  friends 
rallied  for  the  approaching  struggle  with  a  proportionate  zeal 
and  ability. 

Mr.  Marshall  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  convention  of  Vir- 
ginia, which  was  called  to  deliberate  upon  the  ratification  of  the 
constitution,  under  circumstances  peculiarly  gratifying.  A  ma- 
jority of  the  voters  of  the  county  in  which  he  resided  were  op- 
posed to  the  adoption  of  it ;  and  he  was  assured,  that,  if  he  would 
pledge  himself  to  vote  against  it,  all  opposition  to  his  election 
should  be  withdrawn ;  otherwise  he  would  be  strenuously  re- 
sisted. He  did  not  hesitate  for  a  moment  to  avow  his  determina- 
tion to  vote  for  the  constitution.  To  use  his  own  language — 
*'The  questions  which  were  perpetually  recurring  in  the  State 
legislatures;  and  which  brought  annually  into  doubt  principles 
which  I  thought  most  sacred ;  which  proved  that  everything  was 

22 


afloat,  and  that  we  had  no  safe  anchorage  ground ;  gave  a  high 
value  in  nij  estimation  to  that  article  in  the  Constitution,  which 
imposes  restrictions  on  the  States.  I  was  consequently  a  deter- 
mined advocate  for  its  adoption ;  and  became  a  candidate  for  the 
convention."  The  opposition  to  him  rallied  with  great  force; 
but  such  was  his  personal  popularity,  and  the  sense  of  his  integ- 
rity, or  (as  in  his  modesty  he  chose  to  express  it)  "parties  had 
not  yet  become  so  bitter  as  to  extinguish  the  private  affections,'^ 
that  he  was  chosen  by  a  triumphant  majority. 

Few  assemblies  have  ever  been  convened  under  circumstances 
of  a  more  solemn  and  imposing  responsibility.  It  was  under- 
stood that  the  vote  of  Virginia  would  have  a  principal  and  per- 
haps decisive  influence  upon  several  other  States ;  and  for  some 
weeks  the  question  of  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  hung  sus- 
pended upon  the  deliberations  of  that  body.  On  one  side  were 
enlisted  the  powerful  influence  of  Grayson,  the  strong  and  search- 
ing sense  of  George  Mason,  and  the  passionate  and  captivating 
eloquence  of  Patrick  Henry.  On  the  other  side  were  the  persua- 
sive talents  of  George  Nicholas,  the  animated  flow  of  Governor 
Randolph,  the  grave  and  sententious  sagacity  of  Pendleton,  the 
masculine  logic  of  Marshall,  and  the  consummate  skill  and  va- 
rious knowledge  of  Madison.  Day  after  day,  during  the  period 
of  twenty-five  days,  the  debate  was  continued  with  unabated 
ardor  and  obstinate  perseverance.  And  it  was  not  until  it  was 
known  that  the  Constitution  had  already  been  adopted  by  nine 
States  (which  settled  its  fate),  that  Virginia,  by  the  small  ma- 
jority of  ten  votes,  reluctantly  gave  her  own  voice  in  its  favor. 

During  the  whole  of  this  most  arduous  and  interesting  contest 
the  leading  debates  were  principally  conducted  on  opposite  sides 
by  Henry  and  Madison.  Mr.  Marshall  contented  himself  with 
a  constant  support  of  his  leader.  But  on  three  great  occasions, 
the  debate  on  the  power  of  taxation,  that  on  the  power  over  the 
militia,  and  that  on  the  powers  of  the  judiciary,  he  gave  free 
scope  to  his  genius,  and  argued  in  their  favor  with  commanding 
ability.  The  printed  sketches  of  all  these  debates  are  confessed- 
ly loose  and  imperfect,  and  do  little  justice  to  the  eloquence  or 
ability  of  the  respective  speakers.  Yet  with  all  their  imperfec- 
tions the  most  careless  observer  cannot  fail  to  perceive,  in  what 

23 


-f 


is  attributed  to  Mr.  Marshall  on  these  occasions,  the  closeness  of 
logic,  the  clearness  of  statement,  and  the  comprehensiveness  of 
principles,  which  characterized  his  labors  in  the  maturer  periods 
of  his  life.  I  regret  that  the  brief  space  of  time  allowed  for  the 
present  notices  does  not  justify  me  in  the  citation  of  some  pas- 
sages to  illustrate  these  remarks. 

It  is  difficult,  perhaps  it  is  impossible,  for  us  of  the  present 
generation,  to  conceive  the  magnitude  of  the  dangers  which  then 
gathered  over  our  country.  IsTotwithstanding  all  the  sufferings 
of  the  people,  the  acknowledged  imbecility,  nay  the  absolute 
nothingness  of  the  Confederation,  and  the  desperate  state  of  our 
public  affairs,  there  were  men  of  high  character,  and  patriots, 
too,  who  clung  to  the  Confederation  with  an  almost  insane  at- 
tachment. They  had  been  so  long  accustomed  to  have  all  their 
affections  concentrated  upon  the  State  government,  as  their  pro- 
tection against  foreign  oppression,  that  a  national  government 
seemed  to  them  but  another  name  for  an  overwhelming  despot- 
ism. We  have  lived  to  see  all  their  fears  and  prophecies  of  evil 
scattered  to  the  winds.  We  have  witnessed  the  solid  growth  and 
prosperity  of  the  whole  country,  under  the  auspices  of  the  na- 
tional government,  to  an  extent  never  even  imagined  by  its  warm- 
est friends.  We  have  seen  our  agriculture  pour  forth  its  va- 
rious products,  created  by  a  generous,  I  had  almost  said  a  pro- 
fuse industry.  The  miserable  exports,  scarcely  amounting,  in 
the  times  of  which  I  have  been  speaking,  in  the  aggregate  to  the 
sum  of  one  or  two  hundred  thousand  dollars,  now  almost  reach 
to  forty  millions  a  year  in  a  single  staple.  We  have  seen  our 
commerce,  which  scarcely  crept  along  our  noiseless  docks,  and 
stood  motionless  and  withering,  while  the  breezes  of  the  ocean 
moaned  through  the  crevices  of  our  ruined  wharves  and  desert- 
ed warehouses,  spread  its  white  canvas  in  every  clime ;  and,  la- 
den with  its  rich  returns,  spring  buoyant  on  the  waves  of  the 
home  ports ;  and  cloud  the  very  shores  with  forests  of  masts,  over 
which  the  stars  and  stripes  are  gallantly  streaming.  We  have 
seen  our  manufactures,  awakening  from  a  deathlike  lethargy, 
crowd  every  street  of  our  towns  and  cities  with  their  busy  work- 
men, and  their  busier  machinery ;  and  startling  the  silence  of  our 
wide  streams,  and  deep  dells,  and  sequestered  valleys.     We  have 

24 


seen  our  wild  waterfalls  subdued  by  the  power  of  man,  become 
the  mere  instruments  of  his  will,  and  under  the  guidance  of  me- 
chanical genius,  now  driving  with  unerring  certainty  the  flying 
shuttle,  now  weaving  the  mysterious  threads  of  the  most  delicate 
fabrics,  and  now  pressing  the  reluctant  metals  into  form,  as  if 
they  were  but  playthings  in  the  hands  of  giants.  We  have  seen 
our  rivers  bear  upon  their  bright  waters  the  swelling  sails  of  our 
coasters,  and  the  sleepless  wheels  of  our  steamboats  in  endless 
progress,  l^ay,  the  very  tides  of  the  ocean,  in  their  regular  ebb 
and  flow  in  our  ports,  seem  now  but  heralds  to  announce  the  ar- 
rival and  departure  of  our  uncounted  navigation.  We  have 
seen  all  these  things ;  and  we  can  scarcely  believe  that  there 
were  days  and  nights,  nay,  months  and  years,  in  which  our 
wisest  patriots  and  statesmen  sat  down  in  anxious  meditations 
to  devise  the  measures,  which  should  save  the  country  from  im- 
pending ruin.  The  task,  was,  indeed,  most  arduous;  in  which 
success  was  far  more  desired  than  expected.  Obstinate  preju- 
dices were  to  be  overcome ;  and  popular  influences  were  to  be  re- 
sisted. They  could  scarcely  hope  for  their  just  rewards,  except 
from  a  distant  posterity.  But  they  were  governed  by  a  supreme 
love  of  their  country,  and  the  consciousness  of  the  inestimable 
value  of  the  objects,  if  achieved.  Events,  indeed,  have  far  out- 
stripped their  most  sanguine  imaginings.  By  the  blessing  of 
Providence  we  have  risen,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution, from  a  feeble  republic  to  a  wide-spreading  empire. 
Many  of  these  patriots  and  statesmen  went  down  to  their  graves 
without  the  consolation  of  having  witnessed  the  glorious  results 
of  their  labors.  We  owe  them  a  debt  of  gratitude,  which  can 
never  be  repaid.  They  laid  the  broad  foundations  of  our  gov- 
ernment upon  public  justice,  public  virtue,  and  public  liberty. 
They  reared  the  superstructure  with  consummate  skill,  and  of 
the  most  solid  materials.  It  is  for  us  to  say^  whether  it  shall  re- 
main through  all  ages  an  enduring  monument  of  political  wis- 
dom ;  or,  toppling  from  its  height,  shall  bury  under  its  ruins  the 
glory  of  the  past  and  the  hopes  of  the  future.  It  can  be  pre- 
served only  by  untiring  watchfulness.  It  may  be  destroyed  by 
popular  violence,  or  the  madness  of  party,  or  the  deeper  sappings 

25 


of  corruption.     It  may,  like  the  fragments  of  other  great  em- 
pires (may  Heaven  avert  the  evil !),  it  may 

"Leave  a  name,  at  which  the  world  grew  pale, 
To  point  a  moral,  or  adorn  a  tale." 

But  these  are  topics,  which,  though  not  inappropriate  upon 
the  present  occasion,  are  of  themselves  of  too  absorbing  an  inter- 
est to  be  discussed  as  mere  incidents  in  the  life  of  any  individual. 
They  may  be  glanced  at  in  order  to  do  justice  to  eminent  patriot- 
ism ;  but  they  essentially  belong  to  that  philosophy  which  reads 
in  the  history  of  the  past  lessons  of  admonition  and  instruction 
for  the  ascertainment  of  the  future.  Tacitus  in  other  days  ar- 
rived at  the  melancholy  conclusion,  Beipuhlicce  Forma  laudari 
faciliuSj  quam  evenire;  vel  si  evenit,  haud  diuturna  esse  potest.^ 

As  soon  as  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  had  been  secured, 
Mr.  Marshall  immediately  determined  to  relinquish  public  life, 
and  to  confine  his  labors  to  his  profession.  To  this  resolution, 
which  was  urged  upon  him  by  the  claims  of  a  growing  family 
and  a  narrow  fortune,  he  was  not  enabled  to  adhere  with  the 
steadfastness  which  he  wished.  The  hostility  already  evinced 
against  the  establishment  of  the  national  government  was  soon 
transferred  in  Virginia  to  an  opposition  to  all  its  leading  meas- 
ures. Under  such  circumstances,  it  was  natural  for  the  friends 
of  the  Constitution  to  seek  to  give  it  a  strong  support  in  the  State 
legislature.  Mr.  Marshall  was  accordingly  compelled  to  yield 
to  their  wishes,  and  served  as  a  member  from  1788  to  1792. 
From  the  time  of  the  organization  of  the  government  under 
President  Washington,  almost  every  important  measure  of  his 
administration  was  discussed  in  the  Virginia  legislature  with 
great  freedom,  and  no  small  degree  of  warmth  and  acrimony.  On 
these  occasions,  it  fell  to  the  lot  of  Mr.  Marshall  to  defend  these 
measures,  and  to  maintain  the  rights,  duties,  and  powers  of  the 
national  government  against  every  attack ;  and  he  performed  the 
service  with  great  zeal,  independence,  and  ability.  In  1792,  he 
again  retired  from  the  State  legislature,  and  returned  to  his  pro- 
fessional labors  with  increased  activity ;  and  soon  found  himself 


^Tacitus,  Annal.  B.  4,  n.  15. 

26 


engaged  in  all  the  leading  causes  in  the  State  and  national  tribu- 
nals. The  excellent  Reports  of  this  period  by  my  lamented 
friend,  Mr.  Justice  Washington,  exhibit  ample  proofs  of  his  suc- 
cess in  argument.^ 

But,  although  Mr.  Marshall  was  for  some  years  withdrawn 
from  public  life,  yet  he  was  still  compelled  to  take  an  active  part 
in  political  discussions.  The  French  Revolution,  which  at  its 
early  dawn  had  been  hailed  with  universal  enthusiasm  through- 
out America,  had  now  burst  out  into  extravagances  and  butch- 
eries, which  disgraced  the  cause  of  liberty,  and  gave  an  un- 
bounded license  to  ferocious  mobs  and  demagogues.  The  mon- 
archs  of  Europe,  alarmed  for  their  own  safety,  were  soon  leagued 
in  a  mighty  confederacy  to  crush  a  revolution,  dangerous  to  the 
claims  of  legitimacy,  and  the  stability  of  thrones.  It  was  easy  to 
foresee  that,  if  their  enterprises  against  France  were  successful, 
we,  ourselves,  should  soon  have  but  a  questionable  security  for 
our  own  independence.  It  would  be  natural,  after  their  Euro- 
pean triumphs  were  complete,  that  they  should  cast  their  eyes 
across  the  Atlantic,  and  trace  back  the  origin  of  the  evil  to  the  liv- 
ing example  of  constitutional  liberty  in  this  Western  Hemisphere. 
Under  such  circumstances,  notwithstanding  all  the  excesses  of 
the  French  Revolution,  the  mass  of  the  American  people  con- 
tinued to  take  the  liveliest  interest  in  it,  and  to  cherish  the  warm- 
est wishes  for  its  success.  These  feelings  were  heightened  by  the 
grateful  recollection  of  the  services  rendered  to  us  by  France  in 
our  own  Revolution  and  the  consideration  that  she  was  strug- 
gling to  relieve  herself  from  oppressions  under  which  she  had 
been  groaning  for  centuries.  In  this  posture  of  affairs,  there  was 
infinite  danger  that  we  should  be  driven  from  the  moorings  of  our 
neutrality,  and  should  embark  in  the  contest,  not  only  as  an  ally, 
but  as  a  party,  foremost  in  the  fight,  and  in  the  responsibility. 
We  were  just  recovering  from  the  exhaustion,  and  poverty,  and 
suffering,  consequent  upon  our  own  struggle;  and  the  renewal  of 
war  would  be  fraught  with  immeasurable  injuries,  not  only  to 
our  present  interests,  but  to  our  future  national  advancement. 
France  saw  and  felt  the  nature  of  our  position;  and  partly  by 

^See  also  Mr.  Call's  Reports. 

27 


blandishments,  and  partly  by  threats,  endeavored  to  enlist  our 
fortunes,  as  she  had  already  succeeded  in  enlisting  our  feelings, 
in  her  favor.  The  other  powers  of  Europe  were  not  less  eager  in 
their  gaze,  or  less  determined  in  their  future  course.  England, 
herself,  had  already  adopted  precautionary  measures  to  compel 
us  to  support  our  neutrality  in  an  open  and  uncompromising 
manner,  or  to  assume  the  state  of  positive  hostilities. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  President  Washington, 
having  determined  to  preserve  our  own  peace,  and  to  vindicate  our 
rights  against  all  the  belligerents  with  an  even-handed  justice, 
issued  his  celebrated  Proclamation  of  I^Teutrality.  The  whole 
country  was  immediately  thrown  into  a  flame ;  and  the  two  great 
parties,  into  which  we  were  then  divided,  engaged,  the  one  in  de- 
nouncing it,  and  the  other  in  supporting  it,  with  intense  zeal.  On 
this  occasion  Mr.  Marshall  found  himself,  much  to  his  regret, 
arranged  on  a  different  side  from  Mr.  Madison.  He  resolutely 
maintained  the  constitutionality,  the  policy,  nay,  the  duty  of  is- 
suing the  proclamation,  by  oral  harangues,  and  by  elaborate 
writings.  For  these  opinions  he  was  attacked  with  great  asperity 
in  the  newspapers  and  pamphlets  of  the  day,  and  designated  by 
way  of  significant  reproach,  as  the  friend  and  coadjutor  of 
Hamilton,  a  reproach  which  at  all  times  he  would  have  counted 
an  honor ;  but,  when  coupled  (as  it  was)  with  the  name  of  Wash- 
ington, he  deemed  the  highest  praise.  He  defended  himself 
against  these  attacks  with  an  invincible  firmness  and  ability  pro- 
portioned to  the  occasion.  He  drew  up  a  series  of  resolutions  ap- 
proving the  conduct  of  the  Executive,  and  carried  them  by  a  de- 
cided majority  at  a  public  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Richmond. 

The  result  of  this  controversy  is  well  known.  The  adminis- 
tration was  sustained  in  its  course  by  the  sober  sense  of  the  ma- 
jority of  the  nation ;  and  the  doctrine,  then  so  strenuously  con- 
tested and  boldly  denounced,  has  ever  since  that  time  been  laid 
up  as  among  the  most  undisputable  of  executive  rights  and 
duties.  Probably,  at  the  present  day,  not  a  single  statesman  can 
be  found,  of  any  influence  in  any  party,  who  does  not  deem  the 
measure  to  have  been  as  well  founded  in  constitutional  law  as  it 
was  in  sound  policy. 

In  the  spring  of  1Y95,  Mr.  Marshall  was  again  returned  as  a 


member  of  the  State  legislature,  not  only  without  his  approbation, 
but  against  his  known  wishes.  It  was  truly  an  honorable  tribute 
to  his  merits ;  but  it  was  demanded  by  the  critical  posture  of  our 
public  affairs.  The  treaty  with  Great  Britain,  negotiated  by 
that  eminent  patriot,  Mr.  Jay,  was  then  the  subject  of  universal 
discussion.  As  soon  as  the  ratification  of  it  was  known  to  have 
been  advised  by  the  Senate,  the  opposition  to  it  broke  out  with 
almost  unexampled  violence.  Public  meetings  were  called  in  all 
our  principal  cities  for  the  purpose  of  inducing  the  President  to 
withhold  his  ratification ;  and  if  this  step  should  fail,  then  to  in- 
duce congress  to  withhold  the  appropriations  necessary  to  carry 
the  treaty  into  effect.  Such  a  course,  if  successful  (it  was  ob- 
vious), would  at  once  involve  us  in  a  war  with  England,  and  an 
alliance  with  France.  The  denunciations  of  the  treaty  were 
everywhere  loud  and  vehement.  The  topics  of  animadversion 
were  not  confined  to  the  policy,  or  expediency  of  the  principal 
articles  of  the  treaty.  They  took  a  broader  range ;  and  the  ex- 
traordinary doctrine  was  advanced  and  vigorously  maintained, 
that  the  negotiation  of  a  coromercial  treaty  by  the  Executive  was 
an  infringement  of  the  Constitution,  and  a  violation  of  the  power 
given  to  congress  to  regulate  commerce.  -p 

Mr.  Marshall  took  an  active  part  in  all  the  discussions  upon 
this  subject.  Believing  the  treaty  indispensable  to  the  preserva- 
tion of  peace,  and  its  main  provisions  beneficial  to  the  United 
States,  and  consistent  with  its  true  dignity,  he  addressed  himself 
with  the  most  diligent  attention  to  an  examination  of  all  the  arti- 
cles, and  of  the  objections  urged  against  them.  It  was  truly  a 
critical  period,  not  merely  for  the  country,  but  also  in  an  especial 
manner  for  the  administration.  Many  of  its  sincere  friends, 
from  the  boldness  and  suddenness  of  the  attacks  upon  it,  from  the 
inflamed  state  of  the  public  mind,  and  from  a  natural  distrust  of 
their  own  judgment  upon  topics  full  of  embarrassment  and  novel- 
ty, remained  in  a  state  of  suspense,  or  timidly  yielded  themselves 
to  the  prejudices  of  the  times.  It  has  been  well  observed  in  the 
biography  of  Washington,  that  it  is  difficult  now  to  review  the 
various  resolutions  and  addresses  to  which  this  occasion  gave 
birth  without  feeling  some  degree  of  astonishment,  mingled  with 

29 


humiliation,  on  perceiving  such  proofs  of  the  deplorable  fallibil- 
ity of  human  reason. 

In  no  State  in  the  Union  was  a  more  intense  hostility  exhibited 
against  the  treaty  than  in  Virginia;  and  in  none  were  the  objec- 
tions against  it  urged  with  more  unsparing  or  impassioned  earn- 
estness. The  task,  therefore,  of  meeting  and  overturning  them 
was  of  no  ordinary  magnitude,  and  required  the  resources  of  a 
well-instructed  mind.  In  some  resolutions,  passed  at  a  meeting 
of  the  citizens  of  Eichmond,  at  which  Mr.  Chancellor  Wythe  pre- 
sided, the  treaty  was  denounced  "as  insulting  to  the  dignity,  in- 
jurious to  the  interest,  dangerous  to  the  security,  and  repugnant 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States."  At  a  meeting  of  the 
same  citizens,  subsequently  held,  Mr.  Marshall  introduced  cer- 
tain resolutions  in  favor  of  the  conduct  of  the  Executive,  and 
supported  them  in  a  masterly  speech ;  the  best  comment  upon 
which  is,  that  the  resolutions  were  approved  by  a  flattering  ma- 
jority. 

But  a  more  difficult  and  important  duty  remained  to  be  per- 
formed. It  was  easily  foreseen  that  the  controversy  would  soon 
find  its  way  into  the  State  legislature,  and  would  there  be  re- 
newed with  all  the  bitter  animosity  of  party  spirit.  So  odious 
was  the  treaty  in  Virginia,  that  Mr.  Marshall's  friends  were  ex- 
ceedingly solicitous  that  he  should  not  engage  in  any  legislative 
debates  on  the  subject,  as  it  would  certainly  impair  his  well- 
earned  popularity,  and  might  even  subject  him  to  some  rude  per- 
sonal attacks.  His  answer  to  all  such  suggestions  uniformly 
was,  that  he  would  not  bring  forward  any  measure  to  excite  a 
debate  on  the  subject;  but  if  it  were  brought  forward  by  others^ 
he  would  at  all  hazards  vindicate  the  administration,  and  assert 
his  own  opinions.  The  subject  was  soon  introduced  by  the  op- 
position; and,  among  other  things,  the  constitutional  objections 
were  urged  with  triumphant  confidence.  Especially  was  that 
objection  pressed,  which  denied  the  constitutional  right  of  the 
Executive  to  conclude  a  commercial  treaty,  as  a  favorite  and  un- 
answerable position.  The  speech  of  Mr.  Marshall  on  this  oc- 
casion has  always  been  represented  as  one  of  the  noblest  efforts 
of  his  genius.  His  vast  powers  of  reasoning  were  displayed  with 
the  most  gratifying  success.     He  demonstrated,  not  only  from 

30 


the  words  of  the  Constitution  and  the  universal  practice  of  na- 
tions, that  a  commercial  treaty  was  within  the  scope  of  the  con- 
stitutional powers  of  the  Executive;  but  that  this  opinion  had 
been  maintained  and  sanctioned  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  by  the  Vir- 
ginia delegation  in  congress,  and  by  the  leading  members  of  the 
Convention  on  both  sides.  The  argument  was  decisive.  The 
constitutional  ground  was  abandoned,  and  the  resolutions  of  the 
assembly  were  confined  to  a  simple  disapprobation  of  the  treaty 
in  point  of  expediency. 

The  constitutional  objections  were  again  urged  in  congress, 
in  the  celebrated  debate  on  the  Treaty,  in  the  spring  of  1796; 
and  there  finally  assumed  the  mitigated  shape  of  a  right  claimed 
by  congress  to  grant  or  withhold  appropriations  to  carry  treaties 
into  effect.  The  higher  ground,  that  commercial  treaties  were 
not,  when  ratified  by  the  Senate,  the  supreme  law  of  the  land, 
was  abandoned ;  and  the  subsequent  practice  of  the  government 
has,  without  serious  question,  been  under  every  administration, 
in  conformity  to  the  construction  vindicated  by  Mr.  Marshall. 
The  fame  of  this  admirable  argument  spread  through  the  Union. 
Even  with  his  political  enemies,  it  enhanced  the  estimate  of  his 
character;  and  it  brought  him  at  once  to  the  notice  of  some  of 
the  most  eminent  statesmen  who  then  graced  the  councils  of  the 
nation. 

In  the  winter  of  1796,  Mr.  Marshall  visited  Philadelphia,  to 
argue  before  the  Supreme  Court  the  great  case  of  Ware  v.  Hyl- 
ton,  which  involved  the  question  of  the  right  of  recovery  of  Brit- 
ish debts  which  had  been  confiscated  during  the  revolutionary 
war.  It  is  well  known  that  the  question  was  decided  against 
the  side  on  which  Mr.  Marshall  was  employed.  On  this  occa- 
sion he  was  opposed  by  three  of  the  ablest  lawyers  then  belong- 
ing to  the  Pennsylvania  bar.  This  was,  of  itself,  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, no  small  distinction.  But  the  sketch  of  the  argu- 
ment delivered  by  him,  as  we  find  it  in  the  printed  Reports,  af- 
fords conclusive  evidence  of  his  juridical  learning,  and  the  great 
skill  with  which  he  arranged  his  materials  and  sustained  the  in- 
terests of  his  client. 

It  was  during  this  visit  that  he  became  personally  acquainted 
with  the  distinguished  men  who  were  then  in  congress,  as  repre- 

31 


sentatives  from  the  Northern  States.  ^'I  then  became  ac- 
quainted/' says  he,  in  a  letter  to  a  friend,  ^'with  Mr.  Cabot,  Mr. 
Ames,  Mr.  Dexter,  and  Mr.  Sedgwick  of  Massachusetts,  Mr. 
Wadsworth  of  Connecticut,  and  Mr.  King  of  I^ew  York.  I  was 
delighted  with  these  gentlemen.  The  particular  subject  (the 
British  Treaty)  which  introduced  me  to  their  notice  was  at  that 
time  so  interesting,  and  a  Virginian  who  supported,  with  any 
sort  of  reputation,  the  measures  of  the  government,  was  such  a 
rara  avis,  that  I  was  received  by  them  all  with  a  degree  of  kind- 
ness which  I  had  not  anticipated.  I  was  particularly  intimate 
with  Mr.  Ames,  and  could  scarcely  gain  credit  with  him,  when 
I  assured  him  that  the  appropriations  would  be  seriously  op- 
posed in  congress."  The  event  proved  that  he  was  right.  The 
high  opinion  which  he  then  formed  of  these  gentlemen  con- 
tinued to  be  cherished  by  him  through  all  his  future  life. 

About  this  period  President  Washington  offered  him  the  of- 
fice of  Attorney-General  of  the  United  States ;  but  he  declined 
it  on  the  ground  of  its  interference  with  his  far  more  lucrative 
practice  in  Virginia.  He  continued,  however,  in  the  State  legis- 
lature; but  he  rarely  engaged  in  the  debates,  except  when  the 
measures  of  the  national  government  were  discussed,  and  re- 
quired vindication,  l^ov  were  the  occasions  few  in  which  this 
task  was  required  to  be  performed  with  a  steady  confidence.  One 
of  them  shall  be  mentioned  in  his  own  words.  "It  was,  I  think," 
said  he,  "in  the  session  of  1796,  that  I  was  engaged  in  a  debate 
which  called  forth  all  the  strength  and  violence  of  party.  Some 
federalist  moved  a  resolution  expressing  the  high  confidence  of 
the  House  in  the  virtue,  patriotism,  and  wisdom  of  the  President 
of  the  United  States.  A  motion  was  made  to  strike  out  the  word 
wisdom.  In  the  debate  the  whole  course  of  the  administration 
was  reviewed,  and  the  whole  talent  of  each  party  was  brought 
into  action.  Will  it  be  believed,  that  the  word  was  retained  by 
a  very  small  majority  ?  A  very  small  majority  in  the  legislature 
of  Virginia  acknowledged  the  wisdom  of  General  Washington !" 

Upon  the  recall  of  Mr.  Monroe  as  Minister  to  Prance,  Presi- 
dent Washington  solicited  Mr.  Marshall  to  accept  the  appoint- 
ment, as  his  successor;  but  he  respectfully  declined  it  for  the 
same  reasons  as  he  had  the  office  of  Attorney-General ;  and  Gen- 

32 


eral  Pinckney,  of  South  Carolina,  was  appointed  in  his  stead. 
"I  then  thought,"  said  he,  "my  determination  to  remain  at  the 
bar  unalterable.  My  situation  at  the  bar  appeared  to  me  to  be 
more  independent,  and  not  less  honorable,  than  any  other;  and 
my  preference  for  it  was  decided." 

But  he  was  not  long  permitted  to  act  upon  his  own  judgment 
and  choice.  The  French  government  refused  to  receive  General 
Pinckney;  and  Mr.  Adams  (who  had  then  succeeded  to  the 
presidency)  from  an  anxious  desire  to  exhaust  every  measure 
of  conciliation,  not  incompatible  with  the  national  dignity,  in 
Jime,  1797,  appointed  Mr.  Marshall,  General  Pinckney,  and  Mr. 
(afterwards  Vice-President)  Gerry,  Envoys  Extraordinary  to 
the  Court  of  France.  After  no  inconsiderable  struggles  in  his 
own  mind  (which  are  fully  developed  in  a  paper  now  in  my  pos- 
session) Mr.  Marshall  accepted  the  appointment,  and  proceeded 
to  Paris,  and  there,  with  his  colleagues,  entered  upon  the  duties 
of  the  mission.  It  is  well  known  that  the  mission  was  unsuc- 
cessful ;  the  French  government  having  refused  to  enter  into  any 
negotiations.  The  preparation  of  the  official  despatches  ad- 
dressed to  that  government  upon  this  occasion  was  confided  to 
Mr.  Marshall;  and  these  despatches  have  been  universally  ad- 
mired. They  are  models  of  skilful  reasoning,  clear  illustration, 
accurate  detail,  and  urbane  and  dignified  moderation.  They  con 
tain  a  most  elaborate  review  of  all  the  principles  of  national  law, 
applicable  to  the  points  in  controversy  between  the  two  nations. 
As  state  papers,  there  are  not  in  the  annals  of  our  diplomacy 
any  upon  which  an  American  can  look  back  with  more  pride,  or 
from  which  he  can  draw  more  various  instruction. 

On  his  return  home  Mr.  Marshall  resumed  his  professional 
business,  and  had  the  best  reasons  to  believe  that  it  would  be  in- 
creased rather  than  diminished  by  his  temporary  absence.  He 
was  determined  to  pursue  it  with  renewed  ardor.  But  from  this 
determination  he  was  again  diverted  by  a  personal  appeal  made 
to  him  by  General  Washington,  who  earnestly  insisted  that  he 
should  become  a  candidate  for  congress.  After  a  conversation 
between  them  of  the  deepest  interest  and  animation,  and  breath- 
ing on  each  side  a  spirit  of  the  purest  patriotism,  Mr.  MarshaU 
reluctantly  yielded  to  the  wishes  of  General  Washington,  and  be- 

Marshall— 3.  33 


came  a  candidate,  and  was  elected  after  a  most  ardent  political 
contest,  and  took  his  seat  in  congress  in  December,  1799.  While 
he  was  yet  a  candidate,  President  Adams  offered  him  the  seat  on 
the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court,  then  vacant  by  the  death  of  Mr. 
Justice  Iredell.  He  immediately  declined  it;  and  it  was  con- 
ferred on  that  excellent  magistrate,  Mr.  Justice  Washington. 

The  session  of  congress  in  the  winter  of  1799  and  1800  will 
be  forever  memorable  in  our  political  annals.  It  was  the  mo- 
ment of  the  final  struggle  for  power  between  the  two  great  po- 
litical parties  which  then  divided  the  country,  and  ended,  as  is 
well  known,  in  the  overthrow  of  the  Federal  administration.  Men 
of  the  highest  talents  and  influence  were  there  assembled,  and  ar- 
rayed in  hostility  to  each  other;  and  were  excited  by  all  the 
strongest  motives  which  can  rouse  the  human  mind,  the  pride  of 
power,  the  hope  of  victory,  the  sense  of  responsibility,  the  devo- 
tion to  principles  deemed  vital,  and  the  bonds  of  long  political 
attachment  and  action.  Under  such  circumstances  (as  might 
naturally  be  expected)  every  important  measure  of  the  adminis- 
tration was  assailed  with  a  bold  and  vehement  criticism,  and  was 
defended  with  imtiring  zeal  and  firmness.  Mr.  Marshall  took  his 
full  share  of  the  debates ;  and  was  received  with  a  distinction  pro- 
portioned to  his  merits.  Such  a  distinction,  in  such  a  body,  is  a 
rare  occurrence;  for  years  of  public  service  and  experience  are 
usually  found  indispensable  to  acquire  and  justify  the  confidence 
of  the  House  of  Representatives. 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  enter  into  a  minute  detail  of  the  de- 
bates in  which  Mr.  Marshall  took  a  part,  or  to  vindicate  his  votes 
or  opinions.  The  duty  is  more  appropriate  for  a  different  labor. 
On  one  occasion,  however,  he  took  a  leading  part  in  a  most  im- 
portant debate,  which  acquired  for  him  a  wide  public  fame,  and 
therefore  requires  notice  in  this  place.  I  allude  to  the  debate  on 
the  case  of  Thomas  !N^ash,  otherwise  called  Jonathan  Robbins, 
who  had  been  surrendered  to  the  British  government  for  trial  for 
a  supposed  murder,  committed  by  him  on  board  of  a  British  ship 
of  war.  Certain  resolutions  were  brought  forward,  censuring 
the  conduct  of  the  Executive  for  this  act,  in  terms  of  decided  dis- 
approbation, as  unconstitutional  and  improper.  Mr.  Marshall 
in  the  course  of  the  debate  delivered  a  speech  in  vindication  of 

34 


the  right  and  duty  of  the  Executive  to  make  the  surrender,  which 
placed  him  at  once  in  the  first  rank  of  constitutional  statesmen. 
The  substance  of  it  is  now  in  print.  It  is  one  of  the  most  con- 
summate juridical  arguments  which  was  ever  pronounced  in  the 
halls  of  legislation ;  and  equally  remarkable  for  the  lucid  order 
of  its  topics,  the  profoundness  of  its  logic,  the  extent  of  its  re- 
search, and  the  force  of  its  illustrations.  It  may  be  said  of  that 
speech,  as  was  said  of  Lord  Mansfield's  celebrated  Answer  to  the 
Prussian  Memorial,  it  was  Beponse  sans  replique^  an  answer  so 
irresistible  that  it  admitted  of  no  reply.  It  silenced  opposition, 
and  settled  then  and  for  ever  the  points  of  national  law  upon 
which  the  controversy  hinged.  The  resolutions  did  not,  indeed, 
fall  lifeless  from  the  Speaker's  table,  though  they  were  negatived 
by  a  large  majority.  But  a  more  unequivocal  demonstration  of 
public  opinion  followed.  The  denunciations  of  the  Executive, 
which  had  hitherto  been  harsh  and  clamorous  everywhere  through- 
out the  land,  sunk  away  at  once  into  cold  and  cautious  whispers 
only  of  disapprobation.  Whoever  reads  that  speech  even  at  this 
distance  of  time,  when  the  topics  have  lost  much  of  their  interest, 
will  be  struck  Avith  the  prodigious  powers  of  analysis  and  rea- 
soning which  it  displays ;  and  which  are  enhanced  by  the  con- 
sideration that  the  whole  subject  was  then  confessedly  new  in 
many  of  its  aspects. 

In  May,  1800,  President  Adams,  without  any  personal  com- 
munication with  Mr.  Marshall,  appointed  him  Secretary  of  War. 
Before,  however,  he  was  called  to  enter  upon  the  duties  of  that 
office,  the  known  rupture  took  place  between  the  President  and 
Colonel  Pickering;  and  Mr.  Marshall  was  appointed  Secretary 
of  State  in  the  stead  of  the  latter.  The  appointment  was  every 
way  honorable  to  his  merits;  and  no  one  doubted  that  he  was 
eminently  qualified  for  the  discharge  of  its  arduous  and  import- 
ant duties. 

And,  here,  I  cannot  but  take  great  pleasure  in  recording  a  cir- 
cumstance equally  honorable  to  all  the  parties  concerned.  With- 
out intending  in  the  slightest  degree  to  enter  upon  the  discussion 
of  the  controversy  between  the  President  and  Colonel  Pickering, 
I  may  be  permitted  to  say  that  the  circumstances  necessarily  at- 
tending the  dismissal  of  the  latter  from  office  were  calculated  to 

35 


awaken  a  strong  sense  of  injustice  in  the  mind  of  an  officer  of  un- 
questionable integrity  and  patriotism.  The  rupture  grew  out 
of  a  very  serious  difference  of  opinion  upon  very  grave  political 
measures;  and  Mr.  Marshall  entertained  a  decided  attachment 
to  the  views  of  the  President.  Under  such  circumstances,  it 
would  have  been  not  unnatural  that  the  late  Secretary  should 
have  felt  some  prejudices  against  his  successor ;  and  that  there 
should  have  been  some  withdrawal  of  mutual  confidence  and  per- 
haps respect  between  them.  ]^o  such  event  occurred.  On  the 
contrary,  each,  to  the  day  of  his  death,  spoke  of  the  other  in  terms 
of  enviable  commendation ;  and  their  mutual  frank  and  familiar 
friendship  was  never  in  the  slightest  manner  interrupted.  I 
have  often  listened  to  the  spontaneous  praise  bestowed  on  Mr. 
Marshall  by  Colonel  Pickering  (a  man  to  whom  might  justly  be 
applied  the  character, — Incorrupta  fides  nudaque  Veritas^  et 
mens  conscia  recti  )  in  his  own  peculiar  circle  of  friends  with  un- 
mixed delight.  It  was  full,  glowing,  and  affecting.  It  was  a  trib- 
ute from  one  of  such  sincerity  of  thought  and  purpose,  that 
praise,  even  when  best  deserved,  came  from  his  lips  with  a  studied 
caution  of  language.  His  conversation,  always  instructive,  on 
these  occasions  rose  into  eloquence,  beautiful,  nay,  touched  with 
a  moral  sublimity.  When  all  the  circumstances  are  considered, 
I  think  that  I  do  not  overestimate  the  value  of  this  example  of 
mutual  confidence  and  friendship,  when  I  pronounce  it  as  grati- 
fying as  it  is  rare.  It  prostrates  in  the  dust  all  petty  rivalry  for 
public  distinction.  It  shows  that  great  minds  (and  perhaps 
great  minds  only)  fully  understand  that  exquisite  moral  truth 
that  no  man  stands  in  another  man's  way  in  the  road  to  honor  ; 
and  that  the  world  is  wide  enough  for  the  fullest  display  of  the 
virtues  and  talents  of  all,  without  intercepting  a  single  ray  of 
light  reflected  by  any. 

On  the  thirty-first  of  January,  1801,  Mr.  Marshall  received 
the  appointment  of  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States.  It  is 
due  to  his  memory  to  state  that  it  was  conferred  on  him,  not  only 
without  his  own  solicitation  (for  he  had  in  fact  recommended 
another  person  for  the  office)  but  by  the  prompt  and  spontaneous 
choice  of  President  Adams  upon  his  own  unassisted  judgment. 
The  nomination  was  unanimously  confirmed  by  the  Senate ;  and 

36 


the.  Chief  Justice  accordingly  took  his  seat  on  the  bench  at  the 
ensuing  term  of  the  Supreme  Court.  I  trust  that  I  am  not  vio- 
lating any  private  confidence  when  I  quote,  from  a  letter  of  the 
distinguished  son  of  this  distinguished  patriot,  a  passage  on  this 
subject  to  which  the  whole  country  will  respond  without  hesita- 
tion. It  inclosed  a  judicial  commission  to  a  gentleman,  now  just- 
ly enjoying  the  highest  professional  reputation;  and  says  with 
equal  felicity  and  truth — "One  of  the  last  acts  of  my  father's 
administration  was  the  transmission  of  a  commission  to  John 
Marshall,  as  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States.  One  of  the  last 
acts  of  my  administration  is  the  transmission  of  the  inclosed  com- 
mission to  you.  If  neither  of  us  had  ever  done  anything  else  to 
deserve  the  approbation  of  our  country,  and  of  posterity,  I  would 
proudly  claim  it  of  both  for  these  acts,  as  due  to  my  father  and 
myself."  The  claim  is,  indeed,  a  proud  claim  to  distinction.  It 
has  received,  as  it  deserved,  the  approbation  of  the  whole  coun- 
try. The  gratitude  of  posterity  will  also  do  just  homage  to  the 
sagacity,  foresight,  disinterestedness,  and  public  spirit  of  the 
choice.  It  was  in  moral  dignity  the  fit  close  of  a  political  life  of 
extraordinary  brilliancy.  In  public  importance  it  scarcely  yield- 
ed to  any  act  of  that  life,  except  the  motion  for  the  Declaration 
of  Independence.  Such  honor  from  such  hands  was  felt  to  be 
doubly  dear.  It  was  the  highest  praise  from  one  whose  title  to 
confer  it  had  been  earned  by  long  services  in  the  cause  of  liberty. 
The  names  of  Adams  and  Marshall  became  thus  indissolubly  con- 
nected in  the  juridical  and  constitutional  history  of  the  country. 
From  this  time  until  his  death  the  Chief  Justice  continued  in 
the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  his  exalted  office  with  unsullied  dig- 
nity, and  constantly  increasing  reputation.  E"otwithstanding 
his  advancing  years,  no  sensible  inroad  had  been  made  upon  his 
general  health  until  the  last  term  of  the  Court,  when  it  was  ob- 
vious that  his  physical  strength  had  passed  the  utmost  stretch  of 
its  vigor,  and  was  in  a  state  of  rapid  decline.  His  intellectual 
powers  still,  however,  retained  their  wonted  energy ;  and,  though 
he  was  suffering  under  great  bodily  pain,  he  not  only  bore  it  with 
an  uncomplaining  spirit,  but  continued  to  take  his  full  share  of 
the  business  of  the  Court.    'No  better  proof  need  be  required  of 

37 


his  intellectual  ability  than  his  opinions,  which  stand  reeorfled 
in  the  last  volume  of  Reports. 

At  the  close  of  the  term  he  returned  to  his  residence  in  Vir- 
ginia ;  and  he  was  afterwards  induced,  by  the  solicitations  of  his 
friends,  to  visit  Philadelphia,  in  the  expectation  of  receiving 
some  aid  from  the  distinguished  medical  skill  of  that  city.  His 
constitution,  however,  had  become  so  shattered  that  little  more 
remained  to  be  done,  during  the  last  weeks  of  his  life,  than  to 
smooth  the  downward  path  towards  the  grave.  He  died  on  the 
sixth  day  of  July  last  past,  about  six  o'clock  in  the  evening,  in 
the  arms  of  his  children,  without  a  struggle ;  and,  to  use  the  ex- 
pressive language  of  one  who  was  present,  his  last  breath  was  the 
softest  whisper  of  a  zephyr.  Fortunately,  by  the  considerate 
kindness  of  his  friends,  he  was  spared  the  knowledge  of  the  death 
of  his  eldest  son,  who  lost  his  life  a  few  days  before  by  a  most 
calamitous  accident;  an  event,  which,  from  the  high  character 
of  the  son,  and  his  strong  affection  for  him,  would  have  filled  his 
last  hours  with  inexpressible  anguish. 

He  was  fully  aware  of  his  approaching  end,  and  prepared  to 
meet  it  with  a  calmness  built  upon  the  fixed  principles .  by  which 
he  had  regulated  his  life.  Two  days  only  before  his  death  he 
wrote  an  inscription  to  be  placed  on  his  tomb,  in  the  following 
simple  and  modest  terms :  "John  Marshall,  son  of  Thomas  and 
Mary  Marshall,  was  born  on  the  24th  of  September,  1Y55,  inter- 
married with  Mary  Willis  Ambler  the  3d  of  January,  1783,  de- 
parted this  life  the of ,  18 — ." 

What  can  be  more  affecting  than  these  few  facts,  the  only  ones, 
which  he  deemed  in  his  last  moments  worth  recording!  His 
birth ;  his  parentage ;  his  marriage ;  his  death.  His  parents,  to 
whose  memory  he  was  attached  with  a  filial  piety,  full  of  rever- 
ence ; — his  marriage  to  the  being  whom  he  had  loved  with  a 
singleness  and  devotedness  of  affection  never  surpassed; — ^his 
ovm  birth,  which  seemed  principally  memorable  to  him,  as  it 
connected  him  with  beings  like  these; — ^his  ovm  death,  which 
was  but  an  event  to  re-unite  him  with  those  who  had  gone  be- 
fore, in  a  world  where  there  should  be  no  more  suffering  or  sor- 
row ;  but  kindred  souls  should  dwell  together,  even  as  the  angels 
in  heaven. 

38 


I  have  now  finished  the  narrative  of  the  life  of  Chief  Justice 
Marshall,  a  life  which,  though  unadorned  by  brilliant  passages 
of  individual  adventure  or  striking  events,  carries  with  it  (un- 
less I  am  greatly  mistaken)  that,  which  is  the  truest  title  to  re- 
nown, a  fame  founded  on  public  and  private  virtue.  It  has  hap- 
pened to  him,  as  to  many  other  distinguished  men,  that  his  life 
had  few  incidents ;  and  those  which  belonged  to  it  were  not  far 
removed  from  the  ordinary  course  of  human  events.  That  life 
was  filled  up  in  the  conscientious  discharge  of  duty.  It  was 
throughout  marked  by  a  wise  and  considerate  propriety.  His 
virtues  expanded  with  the  gradual  development  of  his  character. 
They  were  the  natural  growth  of  deep-rooted  principles  working 
their  way  through  the  gentlest  affections,  and  the  purest  am- 
bition. 'No  man  ever  had  a  loftier  desire  of  excellence;  but  it 
was  tempered  by  a  kindness  which  subdued  envy,  and  a  diffi- 
dence which  extinguished  jealousy.  Search  his  whole  life,  and 
you  cannot  lay  your  finger  on  a  single  extravagance  of  design  or 
act.  There  were  no  infirmities  leaving  a  permanent  stain  be- 
hind them.  There  were  no  eccentricities  to  be  concealed;  no 
follies  to  be  apologized  for;  no  vices  to  be  blushed  at;  no  rash 
outbreakings  of  passionate  resentment  to  be  regretted;  no  dark 
deeds,  disturbing  the  peace  of  families,  or  leaving  them  wretched 
by  its  desolations.  If  here  and  there  the  severest  scrutiny  might 
be  thought  capable  of  detecting  any  slight  admixture  of  human 
frailty,  it  was  so  shaded  off  in  its  coloring  that  it  melted  into 
some  kindred  virtue.  It  might  with  truth  be  said  that  the  very 
failing  leaned  to  the  side  of  the  charities  of  life;  and  carried 
with  it  the  soothing  reflection — Non  multum  ahludit  imago.  It 
might  excite  a  smile ;  it  could  never  awaken  a  sigh. 

Indeed,  there  was  in  him  a  rare  combination  of  virtues,  such 
only  as  belongs  to  a  character  of  consummate  wisdom ;  a  wisdom 
which  looks  through  this  world,  but  which  also  looks  far  beyond 
it  for  motives  and  objects.  I  know  not  whether  such  wisdom 
ought  to  be  considered  as  the  cause  or  the  accompaniment  of 
such  virtues;  or  whether  they  do  not  in  truth  alternately  act 
upon  and  perfect  each  other. 

I  have  said  that  there  was  in  him  a  rare  combination  of 
virtues.    If  I  might  venture,  upon  so  solemn  an  occasion,  to  ex- 

39 


press  my  own  deliberate  judgment,  in  tlie  very  terms  most  sig- 
nificant to  express  it,  I  should  say  that  the  combination  was  so 
rare  that  I  have  never  known  any  man  whom  I  should  pro- 
nounce more  perfect.  He  had  a  deep  sense  of  moral  and  re- 
ligious obligation,  and  a  love  of  truth,  constant,  enduring,  un- 
flinching. It  naturally  gave  rise  to  a  sincerity  of  thought,  pur- 
pose, expression,  and  conduct,  which,  though  never  severe,  was 
always  open,  manly  and  straightforward.  Yet  it  was  combined 
with  such  a  gentle  and  bland  demeanor  that  it  never  gave  of- 
fense ;  but  it  was,  on  the  contrary,  most  persausive  in  its  appeals 
to  the  understanding. 

Among  Christian  sects,  he  personally  attached  himself  to  the 
Episcopal  Church.  It  was  the  religion  of  his  early  education; 
and  became  afterwards  that  of  his  choice.  But  he  was  without 
the  slightest  touch  of  bigotry  or  intolerance.  His  benevolence 
was  as  wide  as  Christianity  itself.  It  embraced  the  human  race, 
He  was  not  only  liberal  in  his  feelings  and  principles,  but  in  his 
charities.  His  hands  were  open  upon  all  occasions  to  succor  dis- 
tress, to  encourage  enterprise,  and  to  support  good  institutions. 

He  was  a  man  of  the  most  unaffected  modesty.  Although  I 
am  persuaded,  that  no  one  ever  possessed  a  more  entire  sense  of 
his  own  extraordinary  talents  and  acquirements  than  he,  yet 
it  was  a  quiet,  secret  sense,  without  pride  and  without  ostenta- 
tion. May  I  be  permitted  to  say  that,  during  a  most  intimate 
friendship  of  many,  many  years,  I  never  upon  any  occasion  was 
able  to  detect  the  slightest  tincture  of  personal  vanity.  He  had 
no  desire  for  display;  and  no  ambition  for  admiration.  He 
made  no  effort  to  win  attention  in  conversation  or  argument,  be- 
yond what  the  occasion  absolutely  required.  He  sought  no  fine 
turns  of  expression,  no  vividness  of  diction,  no  ornate  elegancies 
of  thought,  no  pointed  sentences,  to  attract  observation.  What 
he  said  was  always  well  said,  because  it  came  from  a  full  mind, 
accustomed  to  deep  reflection ;  and  he  was  rarely  languid,  or  in- 
different to  topics  which  interested  others.  He  dismissed  them 
without  regret ;  though  he  discussed  them  with  spirit.  He  never 
obtruded  his  own  opinions  upon  others;  but  brought  them  out 
only  as  they  were  sought,  and  then  with  clearness  and  calmness. 
Upon  a  first  introduction,  he  would  be  thought  to  be  somewhat 

40 


cold  and  reserved ;  but  he  was  neither  the  one  nor  the  other.  It 
was  simply  a  habit  of  easy  taciturnity,  waiting,  as  it  were,  his 
own  turn  to  follow  the  line  of  conversation,  and  not  to  presume 
to  lead  it.  Even  this  habit  melted  away  in  the  presence  of  the 
young ;  for  he  always  looked  upon  them  with  a  sort  of  parental 
fondness,  and  enjoyed  their  playful  wit,  and  fresh  and  confident 
enthusiasm.  Meet  him  in  a  stage-coach,  as  a  stranger,  and  travel 
with  him  a  whole  day,  and  you  would  only  be  struck  with  his 
readiness  to  administer  to  the  accommodations  of  others,  and  his 
anxiety  to  appropriate  the  least  to  himself.  Be  with  him,  the  un- 
known guest  at  an  inn,  and  he  seemed  adjusted  to  the  very  scene, 
partaking  of  the  warm  welcome  of  its  comforts,  whenever  found ; 
and  if  not  found,  resigning  himself  without  complaint  to  its 
meanest  arrangements.  You  would  never  suspect,  in  either  case, 
that  he  was  a  great  man ;  far  less  that  he  was  the  Chief  Justice 
of  the  United  States.  But  if  perchance,  invited  by  the  occasion, 
you  drew  him  into  familiar  conversation,  you  would  never  forget 
that  you  had  seen  and  heard  that  "old  man  eloquent." 

He  had  great  simplicity  of  character,  manners,  dress,  and 
deportment ;  alnd  yet  with  a  natural  dignity  that  suppressed  im- 
pertinence, and  silenced  rudeness.  His  simplicity  was  never  ac- 
companied with  that  want  of  perception  of  what  is  right  and  fit 
for  the  occasion ;  of  that  grace  which  wins  respect ;  or  that  pro- 
priety which  constitutes  the  essence  of  refined  courtesy.  And 
yet  it  had  an  exquisite  naivete,  which  charmed  every  one,  and 
gave  a  sweetness  to  his  familiar  conversations,  approaching  to 
fascination.  The  first  impression  of  a  stranger,  upon  his  intro- 
duction to  him,  was  generally  that  of  disappointment.  It  seemed 
hardly  credible  that  such  simplicity  should  be  the  accompani- 
ment of  such  acknoAvledged  greatness.  The  consciousness  of 
power  was  not  there ;  the  air  of  ofiice  was  not  there ;  there  was  no 
play  of  the  lights  or  shades  of  rank;  no  study  of  efi'ect  in  tone 
or  bearing.  You  saw  at  once,  that  he  never  thought  of  himself ; 
and  that  he  was  far  more  anxious  to  know  others  than  to  be 
known  by  them.  You  quitted  him  with  increased  reverence  for 
human  greatness ;  for  in  him  it  seemed  inseparable  from  good- 
ness. If  vanity  stood  abashed  in  his  presence,  it  was  not  that 
he  rebuked  it ;  but  that  his  example  showed  its  utter  nothingness. 

41 


He  was  a  man  of  deep  sensibility  and  tenderness ;  nay,  he  was 
an  enthusiast  in  regard  to  the  domestic  virtues.  He  was  en- 
dowed by  nature  with  a  temper  of  great  susceptibility,  easily  ex- 
cited, and  warm  when  roused.  But  it  had  been  so  schooled  by 
discipline,  or  rather  so  moulded  and  chastened  by  his  affections, 
that  it  seemed  in  gentleness  like  the  distilling  dews  of  evening. 
It  had  been  so  long  accustomed  to  flow  in  channels  where  its  sole 
delight  was  to  give  or  secure  happiness  to  others,  that  no  one 
would  have  believed  that  it  ever  could  have  been  precipitate  or 
sudden  in  its  movements.  In  truth,  there  was,  to  the  very  close 
of  his  life,  a  romantic  chivalry  in  his  feelings,  which,  though 
rarely  displayed,  except  in  the  circle  of  his  most  intimate  friends, 
would  there  pour  out  itself  with  the  most  touching  tenderness. 
In  this  confidential  intercourse,  when  his  soul  sought  solace  from 
the  sympathy  of  other  minds,  he  would  dissolve  in  tears  at  the 
recollection  of  some  buried  hope,  or  lost  happiness.  He  would 
break  out  into  strains  of  almost  divine  eloquence,  while  he  point- 
ed out  the  scenes  of  former  joys,  or  recalled  the  memory  of 
other  days,  as  he  brought  up  their  images  from  the  dimness  and 
distance  of  forgotten  years,  and  showed  you  at  once  the  depth 
with  which  he  could  feel,  and  the  lower  depths  in  which  he  could 
bury  his  own  closest,  dearest,  noblest  emotions.  After  all,  what- 
ever may  be  his  fame  in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  that  which,  in  a 
just  sense,  was  his  highest  glory,  was  the  purity,  affectionateness, 
liberality,  and  devotedness  of  his  domestic  life.  Home,  home, 
was  the  scene  of  his  real  triumphs.  There  he  indulged  himself 
in  what  he  most  loved,  the  duties  and  blessings  of  the  family 
circle.  There  his  heart  had  its  full  play ;  and  his  social  quali- 
ties, warmed,  and  elevated,  and  refined  by  the  habitual  ele- 
gancies of  taste,  shed  around  their  beautiful  and  blended  lights. 
There  the  sunshine  of  his  soul  diffused  its  soft  radiance,  and 
cheered,  and  soothed,  and  tranquillized  the  passing  hours. 

May  I  be  permitted  also  in  this  presence  to  allude  to  another 
trait  in  his  character,  which  lets  us  at  once  into  the  inmost  re- 
cesses of  his  feelings  with  an  unerring  certainty.  I  allude  to 
the  high  value  in  which  he  held  the  female  sex,  as  the  friends, 
the  companions,  and  the  equals  of  man.  I  do  not  here  mean  to 
refer  to  the  courtesy  and  delicate  kindness  with  which  he  was 

42 


accustomed  to  treat  the  sex ;  but  rather  to  the  unaffected  respect 
with  which  he  spoke  of  their  accomplishments,  their  talentis, 
their  virtues,  and  their  excellences.  The  scoffs  and  jeers  of  the 
morose,  the  bitter  taunts  of  the  satirist,  and  the  lighter  ridicule 
of  the  witty,  so  profusely,  and  often  so  ungenerously,  poured 
out  upon  transient  follies  or  fashions,  found  no  sympathy  in  his 
bosom.  He  was  still  farther  above  the  conmionplace  flatteries, 
by  which  frivolity  seeks  to  administer  aliment  to  personal  van- 
ity, or  vice  to  make  its  approaches  for  baser  purposes.  He  spoke 
to  the  sex,  when  present,  as  he  spoke  of  them  when  absent,  in 
language  of  just  appeal  to  their  understandings,  their  tastes,  and 
their  duties.  He  paid  a  voluntary  homage  to  their  genius,  and 
to  the  beautiful  productions  of  it,  which  now  adorn  almost  every 
branch  of  literature  and  learning.  He  read  those  productions 
with  a  glowing  gratitude.  He  proudly  proclaimed  their  merits, 
and  vindicated  on  all  occasions  their  claims  to  the  highest  dis- 
tinction. And  he  did  not  hesitate  to  assign  to  the  great  female 
authors  of  our  day  a  rank  not  inferior  to  that  of  the  most  gifted 
and  polished  of  the  other  sex.  But,  above  all,  he  delighted  to 
dwell  on  the  admirable  adaptation  of  their  minds,  and  sensibili- 
ties, and  affections  to  the  exalted  duties  assigned  to  them  by 
Providence.  Their  superior  purity,  their  singleness  of  heart, 
their  exquisite  perception  of  moral  and  religious  sentiment,  their 
maternal  devotedness,  their  uncomplaining  sacrifices,  their  fear- 
lessness in  duty,  their  buoyancy  in  hope,  their  courage  in  de- 
spair, their  love,  which  triumphs  most  when  most  pressed  by 
dangers  and  difficulties;  which  watches  the  couch  of  sickness, 
and  smooths  the  bed  of  death,  and  smiles  even  in  the  agonies  of 
its  own  sufferings ; — ^these,  these  were  the  favorite  topics  of  his 
confidential  conversation;  and  on  these  he  expatiated  with  an 
enthusiasm  which  showed  them  to  be  present  in  his  daily  medi- 
tations. 

I  have  hitherto  spoken  of  traits  of  character  belonging  in  a 
great  measure  to  his  private  life.  Upon  his  public  life  we  may 
look  with  equal  satisfaction.  It  was  without  stain  or  blemish. 
It  requires  no  concealment  or  apology,  and  may  defy  the  most 
critical  and  searching  scrutiny.  He  was  never  seduced  by  the 
allurements  of  office  to  a  desertion  of  his  principles.     He  was 

43 


never  deterred  from  an  open  vindication  of  them  by  popular 
clamor,  or  party  cabal ;  by  the  frowns  of  power,  or  the  fury  of 
mobs.  His  ambition  took  a  loftier  range.  He  aspired  to  that 
fame  which  is  enduring  and  may  justly  be  conferred  by  future 
ages ;  not  to  that  fame  which  swells  with  the  triumphs  of  the  day, 
and  dies  away  long  before  it  can  reach  the  rising  generation. 
To  him  might  be  applied  the  language  of  another  great  magis- 
trate^— He  wished  for  popularity;  that  popularity  which  fol- 
lows, not  that  which  is  run  after ;  that  popularity  which,  sooner 
or  later,  never  fails  to  do  justice  to  the  pursuit  of  noble  ends  by 
noble  means.  He  would  not  do  what  his  conscience  told  him  was 
wrong,  to  gain  the  huzzas  of  thousands,  or  the  daily  praise  of  all 
the  papers  which  came  from  the  press.  He  would  not  avoid  to 
do  what  he  thought  was  right,  though  it  should  draw  on  him  the 
whole  artillery  of  libels ;  all  that  falsehood  or  malice  could  in- 
vent, or  the  credulity  of  a  deluded  populace  could  swallow. 

There  was  throughout  his  political  life  a  steadfastness  and 
consistency  of  principle  as  striking  as  they  were  elevating.  Dur- 
ing more  than  half  a  century  of  public  service,  he  maintained 
with  inflexible  integrity  the  same  political  principles  with  which 
he  begun.  He  was  content  to  live  hy,  with,  and  for  his  princi- 
ples. Amidst  the  extravagances  of  parties  at  different  times 
he  kept  on  the  even  tenor  of  his  way  with  a  calm  and  undeviating 
firmness,  never  bending  under  the  pressure  of  adversity,  or 
bounding  with  the  elasticity  of  success.  His  counsels  were  al- 
ways the  counsels  of  moderation,  fortified  and  tried  by  the  re- 
sults of  an  enlightened  experience.  They  never  betrayed  either 
timidity  or  rashness.  He  was,  in  the  original,  genuine  sense  of 
the  word,  a  federalist — a  federalist  of  the  good  old  school,  of 
which  Washington  was  the  acknowledged  head,  and  in  which  he 
lived  and  died.  In  the  maintenance  of  the  principles  of  that 
school  he  was  ready  at  all  times  to  stand  forth  a  determined  ad- 
vocate and  supporter.  On  this  subject  he  scorned  all  disguise; 
he  affected  no  change  of  opinion ;  he  sought  no  shelter  from  re- 
proach. He  boldly,  frankly,  and  honestly  avowed  himself, 
through  evil  report  and  good  report,  the  disciple,  the  friend,  and 


'Lord  Mansfield,  4  Burr.  R.  2562. 

44 


the  admirer  of  Washington  and  his  political  principles.  He  had 
lived  in  times  when  these  principles  seemed  destined  to  secure 
to  the  party  to  which  he  belonged  an  enduring  triumph.  He  had 
lived  to  see  all  these  prospects  blasted ;  and  other  statesmen  suc- 
ceed with  a  power  and  influence  of  such  vast  extent  that  it  ex- 
tinguished all  hopes  of  any  future  return  to  office.  Yet  he  re- 
mained unshaken,  unseduced,  unterrified.  He  had  lived  to  see 
many  of  his  old  friends  pass  on  the  other  side;  and  the  gallant 
band  with  which  he  had  borne  the  strife  drop  away  by  death, 
one  after  another,  until  it  seemed  reduced  to  a  handful.  Yet  he 
uttered  neither  a  sigh  nor  a  complaint.  When,  under  extraor- 
dinary excitements  in  critical  times,  others  with  whom  he  had 
acted,  despaired  of  the  republic,  and  were  willing  to  yield  it  up 
to  a  stem  necessity,  he  resisted  the  impulse,  and  clung  to  the 
Union,  and  nailed  its  colors  to  the  mast  of  the  Constitution. 

It  is  no  part  of  my  duty  or  design  upon  the  present  occasion 
to  expound  or  vindicate  his  political  opinions.  That  would  of 
itself  furnish  ample  materials  for  a  discourse  of  a  different  char- 
acter. But  it  is  due  to  truth  to  declare  that  no  man  was  ever 
more  sincerely  attached  to  the  principles  of  free  government ;  no 
man  ever  cherished  republican  institutions  with  more  singleness 
of  heart  and  purpose ;  no  man  ever  adhered  to  his  country  with 
a  stronger  filial  affection ;  no  man  in  his  habits,  manners,  feel- 
ings, pursuits,  and  actions,  ever  exemplified  more  perfectly  that 
idol  of  chivalry,  a  patriot  without  fear  and  without  reproach. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  no  man  was  ever  more  sensible  of  the 
dangers  incident  to  free  institutions,  and  especially  of  those 
which  threaten  our  national  existence.  He  saw  and  felt  where 
the  weaknesses  of  the  republic  lay.  He  wished,  earnestly  wished, 
perpetuity  to  the  Constitution,  as  the  only  solid  foundation  of 
our  national  glory  and  independence.  But  he  foresaw  what 
our  course  would  be ;  and  he  never  hesitated  to  express  what  his 
fears  were,  and  whence  the  ruin  of  the  Constitution  must  come, 
if  it  shall  come  at  all.  In  his  view,  the  republic  is  not  destined 
to  perish,  if  it  shall  perish,  by  the  overwhelming  power  of  the 
national  government ;  but  by  the  resisting  and  counteracting 
power  of  the  State  sovereignties.  He  thought  with  another  kin- 
dred mind,   whose  vivid  language  still  rings   in  my  ears   after 

45 


many  years,  as  a  voice  from  the  dead,  that  in  our  government 
the  contrif ugal  force  is  far  greater  than  the  centripetal ;  that  the 
danger  is  not  that  we  shall  fall  into  the  sun ;  but  that  we  may  fly 
off  in  eccentric  orbits,  and  never  return  to  our  perihelion. 
Whether  his  prophetic  fears  were  ill  or  well  founded  time  alone 
can  decide ; — time,  which  sweeps  away  the  schemes  of  man's  in- 
vention ;  but  leaves  immovable  on  their  foundations  the  eternal 
truths  of  nature. 

Hitherto,  I  have  spoken  of  the  attributes  belonging  to  his 
moral  character,  and  the  principles  which  governed  his  life  and 
conduct.  On  these,  I  confess  that  I  dwell  with  a  fond  and  rev- 
erential enthusiasm.  There  was  a  daily  beauty  in  these,  which 
captivated  the  more  the  nearer  they  were  approached,  and  the 
more  they  were  gazed  on.  Like  the  softened  plays  of  moonlight, 
they  served  to  illuminate  all  objects,  at  the  same  time  that  they 
mellowed  and  harmonized  them.  But  I  am  admonished  that 
the  duties  of  the  present  occasion  require  me  to  dwell  rather  on 
his  intellectual,  than  his  moral  qualities.  He  stands  before  us 
rather  as  the  head  of  a  learned  profession,  than  as  a  private  citi- 
zen, or  as  a  statesman. 

He  was  a  great  man.  I  do  not  mean  by  this,  that  among  his 
contemporaries  he  was  justly  entitled  to  a  high  rank  for  his  in- 
tellectual endowments,  an  equal  among  the  master-spirits  of  the 
day,  if  not  facile  princeps.  I  go  farther,  and  insist  that  he 
would  have  been  deemed  a  great  man  in  any  age,  and  of  all  ages. 
He  was  one  of  those  to  whom  centuries  alone  give  birth ;  stand- 
ing out,  like  beacon  lights  on  the  loftiest  eminences,  to  guide,  ad- 
monish, and  instruct  future  generations,  as  well  as  the  present. 
It  did  not  happen  to  him,  as  it  has  happened  to  many  men  of 
celebrity,  that  he  appeared  greatest  at  a  distance ;  that  his  su- 
periority vanished  on  a  close  survey;  and  that  familiarity 
brought  it  down  to  the  standard  of  common  minds.  On  the  con- 
trary, it  required  some  degree  of  intimacy  fully  to  appreciate  his 
powers ;  and  those  who  knew  him  best,  and  saw  him  most,  had 
daily  reason  to  wonder  at  the  vast  extent  and  variety  of  his  intel- 
lectual resources. 

His  genius  was  rather  contemplative  than  imaginative.  It 
seemed  not  so  much  to  give   direction  to  his  other   intellectual 

46 


powers  as  to  receive  its  lead  from  them.  He  devoted  himself 
principally  to  serious  and  profound  studies;  and  employed  his 
invention  rather  to  assist  philosophical  analysis  than  to  gather 
materials  for  ornament,  for  persuasion,  or  for  picturesque  effect. 
In  strength,  and  depth,  and  comprehensiveness  of  mind,  it  would 
be  difficult  to  name  his  superior.  He  sought  for  truths  far  be- 
yond the  boundaries  to  which  inquisitive  and  even  ambitious 
minds  are  accustomed  to  push  their  inquiries.  He  traced  them 
out  from  their  first  dim  lights  and  paly  glimmers,  until  they 
stood  embodied  before  him  with  a  clear  and  steady  brightness. 
His  sagacity  was  as  untiring  as  it  was  acute ;  and  he  saw  the 
conclusion  of  his  premises  at  such  vast  distances,  and  through 
such  vast  reaches  of  intermediate  results,  that  it  burst  upon  other 
minds  as  a  sort  of  instant  and  miraculous  induction.  It  was 
said,  by  a  distinguished  political  opponent  who  had  often  felt 
the  power  of  his  reasoning,  that  he  made  it  a  rule  in  argument, 
never  to  admit  any  proposition  asserted  by  the  Chief  Justice, 
however  plain  and  unquestionable  it  might  seem  to  be;  for,  if 
the  premises  were  once  admitted,  the  conclusion,  however  appar- 
ently remote,  flowed  on  with  an  irresistible  certainty.  His 
powers  of  analysis  were,  indeed,  marvellous.  He  separated  the 
accidental  from  the  essential  circumstances  with  a  subtilty  and 
exactness  which  surprised  those  most  who  were  accustomed  to 
its  exercise.  'No  error  in  reasoning  escaped  his  detection.  He 
followed  it  through  all  its  doublings,  until  it  became  palpable, 
and  stripped  of  all  its  disguises.  But,  what  seemed  peculiarly 
his  own,  was  the  power  with  which  he  seized  upon  a  principle 
or  argument,  apparently  presented  in  the  most  elementary  form, 
and  showed  it  to  be  a  mere  corollary  of  some  more  general  truth 
which  lay  at  immeasurable  distances  beyond  it.  If  his  mind 
had  been  less  practical,  he  would  have  been  the  most  consummate 
of  metaphysicians,  and  the  most  skilful  of  sophists.  But  his  love 
of  dialectics  was  constantly  controlled  by  his  superior  love  of 
truth.  He  had  no  vain  ambition  to  darken  counsel,  or  encourage 
doubt.  His  aim  was  conscientiously  to  unfold  truth,  as  it  was, 
in  its  simple  majesty ;  to  strengthen  the  foundation  of  moral,  re- 
ligious, social,  political,  and  legal  obligations;  and  to  employ 
the  gifts  with  which  Providence  had  intrusted  him,  to  augment 

47 


human  happiness,  support  human  justice,  and  bind  together  in 
an  indissoluble  union  the  great  interests  of  human  society.  In 
short,  if  I  were  called  upon  to  say,  in  what  he  intellectually  ex- 
celled most  men,  I  should  say  it  was  in  wisdom,  in  the  sense  al- 
ready alluded  to; — a  wisdom  drawn  from  large,  extensive,  sound 
principles  and  various  researches ; — a  wisdom  which  constantly 
accumulated  new  materials  for  thought  and  action,  and  as  con- 
stantly sifted  and  refined  the  old.  He  was  not  ambitions  of  liter- 
ary distinction.  But  his  great  work  on  the  life  of  Washington 
shows  his  capacity  for  historical  composition  in  the  most  favor- 
able light.  It  will  forever  remain  a  monument  of  his  skill, 
sound  judgment,  and  strict  impartiality ;  and  must  in  the  future, 
as  in  the  past,  be  a  standard  authority  for  all  other  historians. 

In  contemplating  his  professional  career  it  cannot  for  a  mo- 
ment be  doubted,  that  he  must  have  occupied  the  foremost  rank 
among  advocates.  Such  accordingly  has  been  his  reputation 
transmitted  to  us  by  his  contemporaries  at  the  bar.  From  what 
has  been  already  said,  his  powers  of  argument  must  have  en- 
sured him  entire  success.  In  his  manner  he  was  earnest,  im- 
pressive, deliberative;  but  at  the  same  time  far  more  intent  on 
his  matter  than  his  manner.  I^ever  having  known  him  while  he 
was  at  the  bar,  I  should  have  silently  drawn  the  conclusion  that 
his  forensic  arguments  were  more  distinguished  for  masculine 
sense,  solid  reasoning,  and  forcible  illustration,  than  for  impas- 
sioned appeals,  or  touching  pathos,  even  when  the  latter  might 
fairly  enlist  the  judgment  of  an  advocate.  But  there  have  been 
times  in  private  conversations  and  conferences,  in  which  he  has 
been  roused  by  the  interest  of  the  subject  to  such  a  glowing  strain 
of  animated  reasoning  that  I  am  convinced  that  he  was  no 
stranger  to  appeals  to  the  heart ;  and  that  when  he  chose,  he  could 
call  up  from  the  very  depths  of  the  soul  its  most  powerful  feel- 
ings. 

In  regard  to  eloquence,  if  by  that  be  merely  meant  an  orna- 
mented diction,  splendor  of  style,  impassioned  delivery,  and  fine 
flourishes  of  rhetoric,  it  could  scarcely  be  said  to  belong  to  his 
forensic  addresses.  In  the  view  of  such  a  mind  as  his,  there  were 
graver  duties  to  be  performed,  and  more  important  interests  to 
be  secured.    He  loved  the  law  as  a  science,  and  not  as  a  trade ; 

48 


and  felt  the  full  dignity  of  being  a  minister  at  its  altars.  He 
deemed  himself  under  deep  responsibility,  not  to  his  client  alone^ 
but  to  the  court,  and  to  the  cause  of  public  justice.  He  studied 
to  know  what  the  precepts  of  the  law  were,  that  he  might  apply 
them  to  his  cause,  and  not  to  pervert  them  to  aid  the  triumph  of 
injustice,  or  to  swell  the  trophies  of  cunning,  or  avarice,  or  prof- 
ligacy. His  notions  of  professional  morals  and  obligations 
were  far  different  from  such  mean  and  debasing  palterings  with 
conscience.  He  argued  for  the  law,  and  with  the  law,  and  from 
the  law.  He  disdained  to  mislead  the  court  or  jury,  if  he  could ; 
and  he  gave  to  both  on  all  occasions  the  support  and  the  instruc- 
tion of  his  ample  studies. 

But  if  by  eloquence  be  meant  the  power  to  address  other  men's 
minds  in  language  expressive  and  luminous;  to  present  the 
proper  topics  of  argument  in  their  just  order  and  fulness ;  to  con- 
vince the  understanding  by  earnest  and  sententious  appeals; 
and,  by  the  force  of  reasoning,  to  disarm  prejudices,  to  subdue 
passions,  and  to  dissipate  popular  delusions ;  if  these  be  the  at^ 
tributes  of  eloquence,  then,  indeed,  few  men  might  more  justly 
aspire  to  such  a  distinction.  I  would  not  claim  for  him  that  he 
possessed  the  power  to  seduce  men's  understandings  by  persua- 
sive insinuations  or  honeyed  accents ;  but  I  affirm  that  he  with- 
drew their  understandings  from  the  potency  of  such  artifices,  so 
that  they  fell  lifeless  at  his  feet ; — telumque  imhelle  sine  ictu. 
To  him  may  unhesitatingly  be  applied  the  language  of  Cicero, 
pronounced  upon  one  of  the  greatest  lawyers  of  Rome,  that 
he  possessed  a  mastery  of  the  highest  art  of  oratory ;  the  art  of 
analyzing,  defining,  and  illustrating  a  subject;  separating  the 
true  from  the  false ;  and  deducing  from  each  the  appropriate  con- 
sequences;— artem,  quce  doceret  rem  universam  trihuere  in 
'partes,  latentem  explicare  definiendo,  ohscuram  explanare  in- 
terpretando;  amhigua  primum  videre,  deinde  distinguere;  post- 
remo,  habere  regulam,  qua  vera  et  falsa;  judicarentur ;  et  qucBj. 
quihus  positis,  essent,  quoeque  nan  essent,  consequentia.  Hie 
enim  attulit  hanc  artem,  omnium  artium  maximam,  quasi  lucem 
ad  ea,  quae  confuse  ah  aliis  aut  respondehantur,  aut  agehantur^ 


^Cicero  De  Clar.  Orator,  cap.  14. 
Marshall— 4.  49 


But  it  is  principally  upon  his  character  as  a  magistrate,  pre- 
siding over  the  highest  tribunal  of  the  nation,  that  the  solid  fab- 
ric of  his  fame  must  rest.  And  there  let  it  rest ;  for  the  founda- 
tions are  deep,  and  the  superstructure  fitted  for  immortality. 
Time,  which  is  perpetually  hurrying  into  a  common  oblivion  the 
flatterers  of  kings,  and  the  flatterers  of  the  people,  the  selfish 
-demagogues,  and  the  wary  courtiers,  serves  but  to  make  true 
greatness  better  known,  by  dissolving  the  mists  of  prejudice  and 
passion,  which  for  a  while  conceal  its  true  glory.  The  life  of  the 
Chief  Justice  extended  over  a  space  rare  in  the  annals  of  juris- 
prudence ;  and  still  more  rare  is  such  a  life,  with  the  accompani- 
ment of  increasing  reputation.  There  was  nothing  accidental  or 
adventitious  in  his  judicial  character.  It  grew  by  its  own  na- 
tive strength,  unaided  by  the  sunshine  of  power,  and  unchecked 
by  cold  neglect,  or  unsparing  indifference.  The  life  of  Lord 
Mansfield  was  one  of  the  longest  and  most  splendid  in  the  jurid- 
ical history  of  England.  That  of  the  Chief  Justice  was  longer 
and  may  fairly  rival  it  in  the  variety  of  its  labors,  in  the  glory 
of  its  achievements,  and  in  its  rapid  advancement  of  the  science 
of  jurisprudence. 

The  Chief  Justiceship  of  the  United  States  is  a  station  full  of 
perplexing  duties  and  delicate  responsibilities,  and  requiring 
qualities  so  various,  as  well  as  so  high,  that  no  man,  conscious  of 
human  infirmity,  can  fail  to  approach  it  with  extreme  diffidence 
and  distrust  of  his  own  competency.  It  is  the  very  post  where 
weakness,  and  ignorance,  and  timidity  must  instantly  betray 
themselves,  and  sink  to  their  natural  level.  It  is  difficult  even 
for  the  profession  at  large  fully  to  appreciate  the  extent  of  the 
labors,  the  various  attainments,  the  consummate  learning,  and 
the  exquisite  combination  of  moral  qualities,  which  are  de- 
manded to  fill  it  worthily.  It  has  hitherto  been  occupied  only  by 
the  highest  class  of  minds,  which  had  been  trained  and  disci- 
plined by  a  long  course  of  public  and  professional  service  for  its 
functions.  Jay,  Ellsworth,  and  Marshall,  have  been  the  in- 
<;umbents  for  the  whole  period  since  the  adoption  of  the  Consti- 
tution ;  and  their  extraordinary  endowments  have  in  a  great 


50 


measure  concealed  from  the  public  gaze  the  dangers  and  the  dif- 
ficulties of  this  dazzling  vocation. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  jurisprudence  of  the  States  which  af- 
fords any  parallel  or  measure  of  the  labors  of  the  national  courts. 
The  jurisprudence  of  each  State  is  homogeneous  in  its  materials. 
It  deals  with  institutions  of  a  uniform  character.  It  discusses 
questions  of  a  nature  familiar  to  the  thoughts  and  employments 
of  the  whole  profession.  The  learned  advocate  who  finds  him- 
self transferred,  by  public  favor  or  superior  ability,  from  the 
State  bar  to  the  State  bench,  finds  the  duties  neither  new  nor  em- 
barrassing in  their  elements  or  details.  He  passes  over  ground 
where  the  pathways  are  known  and  measured ;  and  he  finds 
pleasure  in  retracing  their  windings  and  their  passages.  He 
may  exclaim  with  the  poet,  Juvat  iterare  lahores;  and  he  in- 
dulges a  safe  and  generous  confidence  in  his  own  juridical  attain- 
ments. 

How  different  is  the  case  in  the  national  courts !  With  what- 
ever affluence  of  learning  a  judge  may  come  there,  he  finds  him- 
self at  once  in  a  scene  full  of  distressing  novelties  and  varieties 
of  thought.  Instead  of  the  jurisprudence  of  a  single  State,  in 
which  he  has  been  educated  and  trained,  he  is  at  once  plunged 
into  the  jurisprudence  of  twenty-four  States,  essentially  differ- 
ing in  habits,  laws,  institutions,  and  principles  of  decision.  He 
is  compelled  to  become  a  student  of  doctrines  to  which  he  has 
hitherto  been  an  entire  stranger;  and  the  very  language  in 
which  those  doctrines  are  sometimes  expressed  is  in  the  truest 
sense  to  him  an  unknown  tongue.  The  words  seem  to  belong  to 
the  dialect  of  his  native  language ;  but  other  meanings  are  at- 
tached to  them,  either  so  new,  or  so  qualified,  that  he  is  embar- 
rassed at  every  step  of  his  progress.  'N&j ;  he  is  required  in 
some  measure  to  forget  in  one  cause  what  he  has  learned  in  an- 
other, from  its  inapplicability  or  local  impropriety ;  and  new 
statutes,  perpetually  accumulating  on  every  side,  seem  to  snatch 
from  his  grasp  the  principles  of  local  law  at  the  moment  when 
he  is  beginning  to  congratulate  himself  upon  the  possession  of 
them.  Independent  of  this  complicated  intermixture  of  State 
jurisprudence,  he  is  compelled  to  master  the  whole  extent  of  ad- 
miralty and  prize  law;  the  public  and  private  law  of  nations; 

51 


and  the  varieties  of  English  and  American  equity  jurispru- 
dence. To  these  confessedly  herculean  labors  he  must  now  add 
some  reasonable  knowledge  of  the  Civil  Law,  and  of  the  juris- 
prudence of  France  and  Spain,  as  they  break  upon  him  from  the 
sunny  regions  of  the  farthest  South.  Nor  is  this  all  (though 
much  of  what  has  been  already  stated  must  be  new  to  his 
thoughts)  ;  he  must  gather  up  the  positive  regulations  of  the  stat- 
utes and  treaties  of  the  national  government,  and  the  silent  and 
implied  results  of  its  sovereignty  and  action.  He  must  finally 
expand  his  studies  to  that  most  important  branch  of  national  ju- 
risprudence, the  exposition  of  constitutional  law,  demanding,  as 
it  does,  a  comprehensiveness  of  thought,  a  calmness  of  judgment 
and  a  diligence  of  research  (not  to  speak  of  other  qualities  ) 
which  cannot  be  contemplated  without  the  most  anxious  appre- 
hensions of  failure.  When  these  various  duties  are  considered, 
it  is  scarcely  too  much  to  say  that  they  present  the  same  dis- 
couraging aspect  of  the  national  jurisprudence  which  Sir  Henry 
Spelman  has  so  feelingly  proclaimed  of  the  municipal  juris- 
prudence of  England,  in  his  day ; — Molem,  non  ingentem  solum, 
sed  perpetuis  humeris  sustinendam. 

These,  however,  are  but  a  part  of  the  qualifications  required 
of  the  man  who  holds  the  office  of  Chief  Justice.  He  must  also 
possess  other  rare  accomplishments,  which  are  required  of  one 
who,  as  the  head  of  the  Court,  is  to  preside  over  its  public  de- 
liberations, and  its  private  confidential  conferences.  Patience, 
moderation,  candor,  urbanity,  quickness  of  perception,  dignity 
of  deportment,  gentleness  of  manners,  genius  which  commands 
respect,  and  learning  which  justifies  confidence ; — these  seem  in- 
dispensable qualifications  to  fill  up  the  outlines  of  the  character. 
While  I  was  yet  shadowing  them  out  in  my  own  mind,  my  eyes 
insensibly  turned  (as  it  were)  to  the  Judicial  Hall  at  Washing- 
ton, and  to  the  very  Chair  appropriated  to  the  office.  The  ven- 
erable form  of  Marshall  seemed  still  seated  there !  It  was  but 
a  momentary  dream;  I  awoke;  and  found  that  I  had  but 
sketched  the  first  lines  of  his  portrait. 

Yes,  this  great  and  good  man  was  all  that  we  could  ask  or 
even  desire  for  the  station.  He  seemed  the  very  personation  of 
Justice  itself,  as  he  ministered  at  its  altars — in  the  presence  of 

52 


the  nation — within  the  very  walls  which  had  often  echoed  back 
the  unsurpassed  eloquence  of  the  dead,  of  Dexter,  and  Pincknej, 
and  Emmett,  and  Wirt,  and  of  the  living  also,  nameless  here,  but 
whose  names  will  swell  on  the  voices  of  a  thousand  generations. 
Enter  but  that  hall,  and  you  saw  him  listening  with  a  quiet,  easy 
dignity  to  the  discussions  at  the  bar ;  silent,  serious,  searching ; 
with  a  keenness  of  thought,  which  sophistry  could  not  mislead, 
or  error  confuse,  or  ingenuity  delude ;  with  a  benignity  of  as- 
pect which  invited  the  modest  to  move  on  with  confidence ;  with 
a.  conscious  firmness  of  purpose,  which  repressed  arrogance,  and 
overawed  declamation.  You  heard  him  pronounce  the  opinion 
of  the  Court  in  a  low  but  modulated  voice,  unfolding  in  lumi- 
nous order  every  topic  of  argument,  trying  its  strength,  and 
measuring  its  value,  until  you  felt  yourself  in  the  presence  of  the 
very  oracle  of  the  law.  You  heard  (if  I  may  adopt  the  lan- 
guage applied  to  another  great  magistrate  on  a  like  occasion), you 
"heard  principles  stated,  reasoned  upon,  enlarged,  and  ex- 
plained, until  you  were  lost  in  admiration  at  the  strength  and 
stretch  of  the  human  understanding."^  Follow  him  into  the  con- 
ference room,  a  scene  of  not  less  difiicult  or  delicate  duties,  and 
you  would  observe  the  same  presiding  genius,  the  same  kindness, 
attentiveness,  and  deference;  and  yet,  when  the  occasion  re- 
quired, the  same  power  of  illustration,  the  same  minuteness  of 
research,  the  same  severity  of  logic,  and  the  same  untiring  accu- 
racy in  facts  and  principles. 

It  may  be  truly  said  of  him,  as  it  was  of  Lord  Mansfield,  that 
he  excelled  in  the  statement  of  a  case ;  so  much  so,  that  it  was  al- 
most of  itself  an  argument.  If  it  did  not  at  once  lead  the  hearer 
to  the  proper  conclusion,  it  prepared  him  to  assent  to  it  as  soon 
as  it  was  announced.  Nay,  more ;  it  persuaded  him  that  it 
must  be  right,  however  repugnant  it  might  be  to  his  preconceived 
notions.  Perhaps  no  judge  ever  excelled  him  in  the  capacity 
to  hold  a  legal  proposition  before  the  eyes  of  others  in  such  vari- 
ous forms  and  colors.  It  seemed  a  pleasure  to  him  to  cast  the 
darkest  shades  of  objection  over  it,  that  he  might  show  how  they 
could  be  dissipated  by  a  single  glance  of  light.     He  would  by  the 

*Mr.  Justice  Buller,  speaking  of  Lord  Mansfield,  in  Lickbarrow  v.  Mason, 
2  Term  Rep.  73. 

53 


most  subtile  analysis  resolve  every  argument  into  its  ultimate 
principles,  and  then  with  a  marvelous  facility  apply  them  to  the 
decision  of  the  cause. 

That  he  possessed  an  uncommon  share  of  juridical  learning 
would  naturally  be  presumed  from  his  large  experience  and  in- 
exhaustible diligence.  Yet  it  is  due  to  truth  as  well  as  to  his 
memory  to  declare  that  his  juridical  learning  was  not  equal  to 
that  of  many  of  the  great  masters  in  the  profession,  living  or 
dead,  at  home  or  abroad.  He  yielded  at  once  to  their  superiority 
of  knowledge,  as  well  in  the  modern  as  in  the  ancient  law.  He 
adopted  the  notion  of  Lord  Bacon,  that  "studies  serve  for  de- 
light, for  ornament,  and  for  ability,''  — "in  the  judgment  and 
disposition  of  business."  The  latter  was  his  favorite  object. 
Hence  he  "read  not  to  contradict  and  confute ;  nor  to  believe  and 
take  for  granted ;  nor  to  find  talk  and  discourse ;  but  to  weigh 
and  consider."  And  he  followed  another  suggestion  of  that 
great  man,  that  "judges  ought  tjo  be  more  learned  Jhan  witty ; 
more  reverend  than  plausible ;  and  more  advised  than  confi- 
dent." The  original  bias,  as  well  aslhe  choice,  of  his  mind  was 
to  general  principles  and  comprehensive  views,  rather  than  to 
technical  or  recondite  learning.  He  loved  to  expatiate  upon  the 
theory  of  equity ;  to  gather  up  the  expansive  doctrines  of  com- 
mercial jurisprudence ;  and  to  give  a  rational  cast  even  to  the 
most  subtile  dogmas  of  the  common  law.  He  was  solicitous  to 
hear  arguments ;  and  not  to  decide  causes  without  them.  And 
no  judge  ever  profited  more  by  them.  No  matter  whether  the 
subject  was  new  or  old ;  familiar  to  his  thoughts,  or  remote  from 
them ;  buried  under  a  mass  of  obsolete  learning,  or  developed  for 
the  first  time  yesterday ;  whatever  was  its  nature,  he  courted  ar- 
gument, nay,  he  demanded  it.  It  was  matter  of  surprise  to  see 
how  easily  he  grasped  the  leading  principles  of  a  case,  and 
cleared  it  of  all  its  accidental  encumbrances;  how  readily  he 
evolved  the  true  points  of  the  controversy,  even  when  it  was  man- 
ifest that  he  never  before  had  caught  even  a  glimpse  of  the  learn- 
ing upon  which  it  depended.  He  seized,  as  it  were  by  intuition, 
the  very  spirit  of  juridical  doctrines,  though  cased  up  in  the  ar- 
mor of  centuries ;  and  he  discussed  authorities  as  if  the  very 
minds  of  the  judges  themselves  stood  disembodied  before  him. 

54 


But  his  peculiar  triumph  was  in  the  exposition  of  constitu- 
tional law.  It  was  here  that  he  stood  confessedly  without  a 
rival,  whether  we  regard  his  thorough  knowledge  of  our  civil 
and  political  history,  his  admirable  powers  of  illustration  and 
generalization,  his  scrupulous  integrity  and  exactness  in  inter- 
pretation, or  his  consummate  skill  in  moulding  his  own  genius 
into  its  elements  as  if  they  had  constituted  the  exclusive  study 
of  his  life.  His  proudest  epitaph  may  be  written  in  a  single 
line — ^Here  lies  the  Expounder  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States. 

I  am  aware  of  the  force  of  this  language ;  and  have  no  desire 
to  qualify  it.  The  task  which  he  had  to  perform  was  far  dif- 
ferent from  that  which  belongs  to  the  debates  in  other  places^ 
where  topics  may  be  chosen,  and  pressed,  or  avoided,  as  the  occa- 
sion may  require.  In  the  forum  there  is  no  choice  of  topics  to 
be  urged ;  there  are  no  passions  to  be  addressed ;  there  are  no  in- 
terests to  be  courted.  Critical  inquiries,  nice  discriminations,, 
severe  inductions,  and  progressive  demonstrations  are  demanded 
upon  the  very  points  on  which  the  controversy  hinges.  Every 
objection  must  be  met,  and  sifted,  and  answered,  not  by  single 
flashes  of  thought,  but  by  the  closest  logic,  reasoning  out  every 
successive  position  with  a  copious  and  convincing  accuracy. 

Let  it  be  remembered  that,  when  Chief  Justice  Marshall  first 
took  his  seat  on  the  bench,  scarcely  more  than  two  or  three  ques- 
tions of  constitutional  law  had  ever  engaged  the  attention  of  the 
Supreme  Court.  As  a  science,  constitutional  law  was  then  con- 
fessedly new ;  and  that  portion  of  it,  in  an  especial  manner, 
which  may  be  subjected  to  judicial  scrutiny,  had  been  explored 
by  few  minds,  even  in  the  most  general  forms  of  inquiry.  Let 
it  be  remembered  that  in  the  course  of  his  judicial  life,  numer- 
ous questions  of  a  practical  nature,  and  involving  interests  of 
vast  magnitude,  have  been  constantly  before  the  court,  where 
there  was  neither  guide  nor  authority ;  but  all  was  to  be  wrought 
out  by  general  principles.  Let  it  be  remembered  that  texts, 
which  scarcely  cover  the  breadth  of  a  finger,  have  been  since  in- 
terpreted, explained,  limited,  and  adjusted  by  judicial  commen- 
taries, which  are  now  expanded  into  volumes.  Let  it  be  remem- 
bered that  the  highest  learning,  genius,  and  eloquence  of  the  bar> 

55 


liave  been  employed  to  raise  doubts,  and  fortify  objections ;  that 
State  sovereignties  have  stood  impeached  in  their  legislation; 
-and  rights  of  the  most  momentous  nature  have  been  suspended 
upon  the  issue ;  that  under  such  circumstances,  the  infirmities  of 
false  reasoning,  the  glosses  of  popular  appeal,  the  scattered  fire 
of  irregular  and  inconclusive  assertion,  and  the  want  of  compre- 
hensive powers  of  analysis,  had  no  chance  to  escape  the  instant 
detection  of  the  profession.  Let  these  things  (I  say)  be  remem- 
bered; and  who  does  not  at  once  perceive  that  the  task  of  ex- 
pounding the  Constitution,  under  such  circumstances,  required 
almost  superhuman  abilities  ?  It  demanded  a  mind  in  which 
vast  reaches  of  thought  should  be  combined  with  patience  of  in- 
vestigation, sobriety  of  judgment,  fearlessness  of  consequences, 
and  mastery  of  the  principles  of  interpretation,  to  an  extent 
rarely  belonging  to  the  most  gifted  of  our  race. 

How  this  gigantic  task  of  expounding  the  Constitution  was 
met  and  executed  by  Chief  Justice  Marshall,  let  the  profession, 
let  the  public,  decide.  Situated  as  I  am,  I  may  not  speak  for 
others  upon  such  an  occasion.  But  having  sat  by  his  side  dur- 
ing twenty-four  years ;  having  witnessed  his  various  constitu- 
tional labors ;  having  heard  many  of  those  exquisite  judgments, 
the  fruits  of  his  own  unassisted  meditations,  from  which  the 
<}ourt  has  derived  so  much  honor ;  —  et  nos  aliquod  nomenque 
decusque  gessimus; —  I  confess  myself  unable  to  find  language 
sufficiently  expressive  of  my  admiration  and  reverence  of  his 
transcendent  genius.  While  I  have  followed  his  footsteps,  not 
as  I  could  have  wished,  but  as  I  have  been  able,  at  humble  dis- 
tances, in  his  splendid  judicial  career,  I  have  constantly  felt  the 
liveliest  gratitude  to  that  beneficent  Providence  which  created 
liim  for  the  age,  that  his  talents  might  illustrate  the  law,  his  vir- 
tues adorn  the  bench,  and  his  judgments  establish  the  perpetuity 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  country.  Such  is  my  humble  tribute 
to  his  memory.  His  saltern  accumulem  donis,  et  fungar  inani 
munere.  The  praise  is  sincere,  though  it  may  be  perishable. 
"Not  so  his  fame.  It  will  flow  on  to  the  most  distant  ages.  Even 
if  the  Constitution  of  his  country  should  perish,  his  glorious 
judgments  will  still  remain  to  instruct  mankind,  until  liberty 

56 


shall  cease  to  be  a  blessing,  and  the  science  of  jurisprudence 
shall  vanish  from  the  catalogue  of  human  pursuits. 

And  this  great  magistrate  is  now  gone  —  gone,  as  we  trust,  to 
the  high  rewards  of  such  eminent  services.  It  is  impossible  to 
reflect  that  the  places  which  once  knew  him  shall  know  him  no 
more,  without  a  sense  of  inexpressible  melancholy.  When  shall 
we  look  upon  his  like  again  ?  When  may  we  again  hope  to  see 
so  much  moderation  with  so  much  firmness ;  so  much  sagacity 
with  so  much  modesty ;  so  much  learning  with  so  much  purity ;  so 
much  wisdom  with  so  much  gentleness ;  so  much  splendor  of  tal- 
ent with  so  much  benevolence ;  so  much  of  everything  to  love  and 
admire,  with  nothing,  absolutely  nothing,  to  regret  ? 

And  yet  there  are  some  consolations  even  in  so  great  a  loss. 
Cicero,  in  mourning  over  the  death  of  his  friend,  the  great 
Koman  lawyer,  Hortensius,  did  not  hesitate  to  pronounce  his 
death  fortunate;  for  he  died  at  a  moment  happy  for  himself, 
though  most  unfortunate  for  his  country.  Quoniam  perpetud 
quddam  felicitate  usus  ille,  cessit  e  vita  suo,  magis  quam  suorum 
civiunij  tempore.  Vixit  tarn  diu  quam  licuit  in  civitate  bene 
heateque  vivere.^  We  may  well  apply  the  like  remark  to  Chief 
Justice  Marshall.  He  was  not  cut  off  in  middle  life,  in  the 
early  maturity  of  his  faculties,  while  he  was  yet  meditating  new 
plans  of  usefulness  or  glory.  He  lived  to  the  very  verge  of  that 
green  old  age,  after  which  the  physical  strength  sensibly  declines, 
and  the  intellectual  powers  no  longer  reach  their  accustomed 
limits.  He  retained,  to  the  very  last  hour  of  his  life,  the  posses- 
sion of  all  these  powers  in  full  perfection,  without  change  — 
nay,  without  the  shadow  of  change.  Such  had  been  his  hope, 
earnestly  and  frequently  expressed  to  his  confidential  friends, 
with  deep  solicitude ;  for  no  man  more  than  he  dreaded  to  add 
another  to  the  melancholy  lessons : 

"In  life's  last  scenes,  what  prodigies  surprise, 
Tears  of  the  brave,  and  follies  of  the  wise." 

We  may  well  rejoice,  therefore,  that  a  life,  so  long  and  so  use- 
ful, should  have  come  to  its  close  without  any  exhibition  of  hu- 

*Cicero  De  Clar.  Orator,  cap.  1. 

5Y 


man  infirmity.  The  past  is  now  secure.  It  is  beyond  the  reach 
of  accident.  The  future  cannot  be  disturbed  by  error,  or  dark- 
ened by  imbecility.  His  setting  sun  loomed  out  in  cloudless 
splendor,  as  it  sunk  below  the  horizon.  The  last  lights  shot  up 
with  a  soft  and  balmy  transparency,  as  if  the  beams,  while  yet  re- 
flected back  on  this  world,  were  but  ushering  in  the  mom  of  his 
own  immortality. 


58 


ADDRESS  OF  THE  NATIONAL  COMMITTEE  OF  THE 

AMERICAN  BAR  ASSOCIATION  ON 

"JOHN  MARSHALL  DAY." 


New  Obleans,  February  4,  1900. 
To  THE  Bench  and  Bab  of  the  United  States. 

By  direction  of  the  American  Bar  Association,  a  committee  composed 
of  one  member  from  each  state  and  territory,  and  from  the  District  of 
Columbia,  has  been  appointed  by  the  Association  in  reference  to  the  pro- 
posed celebration  of  "John  Marshall  Day,*'  to  take  place  on  Monday,  Feb. 
4,  1901,  being  the  first  centennial  of  the  installation  of  that  eminent  jurist 
as  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States.  A  commemoration  of  this  event,  and 
of  the  splendid  career  of  Marshall  in  the  great  oflBce  which  he  adorned  for 
more  than  thirty-four  years,  cannot  fail  to  be  an  occasion  of  profound  in- 
terest and  importance  to  the  American  bench  and  bar.  Soldier,  student, 
advocate,  diplomatist,  statesman,  and  jurist — he  was  one  of  the  finest 
types  of  American  manhood  in  its  best  estate.  His  fame  is  the  heritage  of 
the  nation,  and  it  is  befitting  that  the  whole  country  should  celebrate  the 
appointed  day. 

In  the  language  of  Judge  Story,  when  voicing  the  sentiments  of  tb^ 
great  court  on  the  ofiicial  announcement  of  Marshall's  death,  "his  genius 
his  learning,  and  his  virtues  have  conferred  an  imperishable  glory  on  his 
country,  whose  liberties  he  fought  to  secure,  and  whose  institutions  he 
labored  to  perpetuate.  He  was  a  patriot  and  a  statesman  of  spotless  integ- 
rity and  consummate  wisdom.  The  science  of  jurisprudence  will  forever 
acknowledge  him  as  one  of  its  greatest  benefactors.  The  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  owes  as  much  to  him  as  to  any  single  mind,  for  the  foun- 
dations on  which  it  rests,  and  the  expositions  by  which  it  is  to  be  main- 
tained ;  but,  above  all,  he  was  the  ornament  of  human  nature  itself,  in  the 
beautiful  illustration  which  his  life  constantly  presented  of  its  most  at- 
tractive graces  and  most  elevated  attributes." 

The  Committee  has  been  charged  with  the  duty  of  publishing  this 
address  to  the  legal  profession  of  the  United  States ;  also,  with  the  further 
duty  of  preparing  suggestions  for  the  observance  of  the  day  on  the  part  of 

59 


the  state,  city,  and  county  bar  associations  and  other  public  bodies  in  the 
United  States. 

The  Committee  was  also  charged  with  the  duty  of  requesting  the 
good  offices  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  in  recommending  to  Con- 
gress the  propriety  of  observing  "John  Marshall  Day"  on  the  part  of 
Congress  and  other  departments  of  the  government  of  the  United  States, 
and  of  memorializing  Congress  to  observe  befitting  ceremonies  in  honor  of 
the  great  Chief  Justice. 

It  is  proposed  that  commemoration  services  be  held  at  the  national 
capital,  under  the  direction  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 
with  the  aid  and  support  of  the  co-ordinate  branches  of  the  government. 

It  is  also  expected  that  the  day  will  be  properly  observed  on  the  part  of 
all  state  and  national  courts,  by  the  cessation  of  judicial  business,  and  that 
all  state,  city,  and  county  bar  associations  participate  in  proper  exercises 
in  such  manner  as  to  them  shall  seem  most  appropriate. 

Similar  ceremonies  are  recommended  to  be  held  in  all  American  col- 
leges, law  schools,  and  public  schools,  to  the  end  that  the  youth  of  our  coun- 
try may  be  made  more  fully  acquainted  with  Marshall's  noble  life  and  dis- 
tinguished services. 

The  American  Bar  Association  leaves  the  execution  of  this  national 
celebration  in  the  hands  of  the  courts  and  the  public  bodies  named,  and  the 
Committee  express  the  sincere  hope  that  the  celebration  be  national  in  its 
character  and  imposing  in  its  extent  and  fervor,  and  that  it  may  have  the 
hearty  support  of  the  secular  and  legal  press  of  our  country. 

The  active  co-operation  of   the  respective  vice-presidents  and  members 
of  local  councils  appointed  by  the  Association,  with  the  respective  members 
of  the  National  Committee,  is  respectfully  requested  and  expected. 
On  Behalf  and  by  Authority  of  the  National  Committee, 

William  Wibt  Howe,  Chairman. 
Adolph  Moses,  Secretary. 


60 


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